The Messenger
by Stillwind11
Summary: Power Swap Fic! Taylor got Oni Lee's power (with slight modifications due to how it meshed with her), and Oni Lee got hers. (Again with slight modifications.) What will happen to the world with a Taylor who travels a different path? How will the end of the world be prevented now? AU, no romances planned. NaNoWriMo project.
1. Stamp 1-1

January 3rd, 2011. My second year of high-school. This is the day that I almost died.  
I survived. I saved myself. I got _superpowers_.

It was horrible.

I suppose I should explain. You see, there are these three girls at school that have been making my life pretty goddamn miserable. Doing everything they could think of to make school suck, humiliate me, hurt me. Each of the three had their individual approach, and for a good while, it was like they were trying to outdo each other in how creative or mean they could get.

It started when my former best friend Emma turned on me, just in time for the start of high-school. It went on for almost a year and a half before things quieted down. Around November, it was like they got bored. The pranks got tamer, then stopped altogether. The taunts stopped, and so did most of the hate mail. They ignored me, left me alone.

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I made a friend, one of the girls who had sometimes joined in on the taunting came to me and apologized. Not one of the major bullies, more like a friend of a friend of the bullies, I guess. She asked me if I wanted to hang out. I was too gun-shy, told her no, but it got so we were talking before and after classes and eating lunch together. Her approaching me and befriending me was one of the big reasons I could think the harassment was ending. I never really let my guard down around her, but she was pretty cool about it.

And for most of November and the two weeks of classes before Christmas break, nothing. They were leaving me alone. I was able to relax. I thought it was over, that I could live my life now. Be happy.

That ended the day I came back from the winter break. I went to my locker, and well, they'd obviously raided the bins from the girls bathrooms or something, because they'd piled used pads and tampons into my locker. Almost filled it.

It was pretty obvious that they had done it before the school closed for Christmas, by the smell alone. I bent over to throw up, right there in a crowded hallway, everyone watching. Before I could recover or stop losing my breakfast, on of them grabbed me by the hair, hard enough it hurt, and shoved me into the locker.

They shut the locker and put the lock on it. I was trapped in there, with this rancid smell and puke, barely able to move, it was so full. All I could think was that someone had been willing to get their hands _that dirty_ to fuck with me, but of all the students that had seen me get shoved in the locker, nobody was getting a janitor or teacher to let me out. I panicked, freaked out. The school day started and I was still in there.

Hours passed. During the class break I could hear laughter, sniggers and gagging sounds as people passed by. No-one let me out. I was feeling sick, dizzy, my voice hoarse from all the screaming and pleading. For hours I had banged against the door, trying to raise enough noise to be noticed. Insects were crawling on me, biting me, infesting me. Vomit and blood and filth seeping into the wounds. So as they all went to class, leaving me abandoned a second time, I broke. Something changed, I experienced something. I forgot it immediately after, but it was profoundly life changing.

I could see a tiny sliver of the ground outside my locker. I had watched as shadowy forms walked by earlier. My locker was far enough from any classrooms that no teacher had been disturbed enough by my shouting and screaming, they had not come to rescue me. I wanted out, and I knew by this point that no-one was going to let me out.

All of a sudden, I was out. But I was also still trapped inside. Everything was clear, bright and detailed, surreal. I could clearly see every colour in the faded tiles of the hallway, the nearby stairwell, the faded posters on the walls, and rows of lockers leading to a far away classroom. I was still light headed, dizzy, and shaking.

The filth was still on me, on both selves. And I knew one terrible truth. I was still in that locker. I might be out, but I was not free yet. Desperate, confused, sick, I took a step over and fumbled at the lock. I was lucky, they had simply replaced my own lock and had not used a new one. I knew the combination. Trembling hands slowly spun the dial. _Click._ Open.

I swung the door open and looked at myself. An odd moment of balance, peace, of riding a cresting wave. Only a few seconds had passed since I had found myself both free yet trapped. But now I could feel that wave starting to break. To fall apart. I had a moment of decision, of who to be. Me, or me? It didn't matter, I was free. I saw my rescuer crumble to ash. Me.

The rush of being two selves collapsed. I passed out.

This is where my story starts.


	2. Stamp 1-2

It feels like I'm a different person now, ever since the locker. I'm more wary, less trusting. I'd like to think I'm more pragmatic now. All thanks to my _lovely_ school, Winslow High, and the selfish people in charge who don't seem to care about anything but their reputations.

I don't remember anything about the trip to the hospital. Heck, I don't even know who found me and called for an ambulance in the first place. I only remember waking up some time later, my dad holding my hand.  
He was crying and it was kinda embarrassing, but then I started to cry too, I felt so much relief. I was _alive_ and my dad was there waiting for me. He looked so tired and frail, I wish I could have hid the bullying from him for longer, I didn't want him to worry about me. I hate that all the walls had come crumbling down around me, exposing me.

I ended up being in the hospital for a whole week, recovering from the attack. They tell me I would have died if I had stayed there much longer. I had a nasty infection from all that filth getting into my blood through the bug bites.

Once I'm discharged to go home, I'll have to take a lot of antibiotics for a whole month, and I'll have to resist the urge to scratch at my bandages as my skin heals. It's already hard to resist the urge, and the nightmares of insects crawling under my skin don't help either.

Dad of course had gone ballistic when I reluctantly told him what happened. I stupidly thought that this would be the final straw that forced the school do something, but it turns out that the principal was very determined to support her favorite three bullies. Apparently there were no 'concrete' witnesses, no 'evidence' of who had done this crime, and so on.

Dad wanted to pursue it in court anyways but I knew that Emma's dad, the high powered lawyer Alan Barnes, would quickly jump in once it was clear who one of the three 'suspects' were. We'd never win.

I finally told him to just take the schools deal to pay for the medical bills. I almost regretted it right away, almost took it back. He looked so defeated. After making sure that it was what I wanted to do, he nodded sadly. I think he knew deep down that we couldn't afford to get justice, that he could do nothing to help me. I'm sorry dad, we need the money too much. I don't want you selling our house, mom's house, just to get revenge.

I have powers now, I remember that part clearly. And that changes _everything_. Once I get home, I'll have to start planning and testing things.

Just like I saved myself from the locker, I'm going to save the both of us. Heck, I'm going to save the whole city if I can. I'm going to be a superhero one day.

* * *

Dad tries to be home more in the days that follow, but he still has to work since the bills never stop coming. The hospital expenses were only barely covered. The settlement we got from the school didn't actually help much, it only kept us from debt. But at least that leaves me with plenty of free time to practice with my new powers. I have a whole two weeks off school, doctor's orders, to recover, rest, and (secretly) train.

I start with the basics on day one. It's not like I had much else to do, and I was sick of spending all day in bed. I had slept enough in the hospital.

First off, what were my powers? It seemed like I had made another me. A clone? But I remember being both selves. So probably not a disposable minion that I've heard some capes could make.

So I tried to conjure up the same feeling I had in the locker, the same, odd balancing sensation. I try to remember what it was like to see the world through four sets of eyes, to stare at myself doubly, almost like a mirror but subtly different.

It all clicked into place quite suddenly, like falling on a hidden patch of ice. I suddenly was in two places at once, seeing two things, thinking with two minds. Everything got more detailed, I became more aware of things. I marvel at how this second me felt like just another limb to control, intuitive and a part of me, but standing in a different part of my kitchen and looking back at me.

Looking around, I notice that I can actually see most of the room if I turned my heads in opposite directions. 360 degree vision, wow. That is pretty cool.

After a few seconds, I feel that duality collapse. I was only one, not two. This was incredibly disappointing at first. I could only create a clone/self/minion for a few seconds? What good would that ever do? But I quickly stifled my disappointment. _Patience_ , I counsel myself as I rub my bandaged arms, shivering with some strange combination of fear and excitement.

Until I had finished all the tests I had planned, and more that I had not yet thought of, there was no way to know if my power was a good one or not. Not everything would be obvious on the first try.

For instance, my senses seemed amplified when I was two selves. When I had been in the hospital trying to figure out what had happened, I had thought that it was merely a side effect of the stress and infection, a hallucination. But now I see that it clearly was a part of my power.

It makes sense, I now had double the eyes, ears, and so on. My mind seemed able to handle the expanded vision with no problem, plus I seem to think more clearly, remember details better.

Now to test the odd choice I seem to have at the end, of which 'me' to collapse into.

Another self is made and this time I try to end up as the one standing on the _other_ side of the kitchen table. It ends, and I'm there, just as normal as can be. Only I never moved through the space between.

I suddenly realize that I have a faint smile on my face. Probably the first real one I've had all week.

So it's a temporary doubling of myself, but it's also some kind of teleportation effect when I wanted it to be. That is actually pretty cool, and would be very useful for getting around as a hero, depending on how far I could send out a self.

Can I end the doubled selves early, or did I have to wait the full duration? It seemed I could. My ashy selves only lasted at most five seconds according to my timer, but I could end a self at any instant. I could even move myself anywhere in sight and collapse the self staying behind at nearly the same instant, making it seem as if I teleported, only leaving behind a bit of ash.

Ash that seems to disappear after a few minutes I realize, as I notice my ash stained fingers become clean a while after I had investigated my ashy remains. Curious...

"Now, I seem to be able to make one duplicate of myself, but can I make more?" I ask a copy of myself aloud, tilting my other head in curiosity.

I figure it can't hurt to try. After quite a bit of experimental mental gymnastics, and a brief break to take a few pills when it hit noon, it seemed I could indeed. The trick was difficult to get at first, I had to ride three 'waves' at once. But after a half-hour of practice, it became pretty easy. Almost second nature.

It was kinda disappointing that my duplicates were so fleeting, so temporary. I could only experience this odd, wonderful expansion of my senses for a few seconds at a time. I finally went up to four selves after another fifteen minutes of experimentation, it was much easier to get the hang of it now that I knew what I was doing.

Or possibly I was smarter when I literally had more heads? It would make sense. I had a hard time just making three selves all at once from a 'cold start' of just being my single, lone self. But I found that if I had one or two already made, then it became much easier to reach my maximum.

Well, this power is starting to look better and better now. Four selves to fight with is much better than two.

I strike a pose with all four selves, raising my 8 fists and a few feet up in various silly kung-fu poses. One self starts to lose balance, but I reach out to stabilize myself, then giggle at how silly I must look as small puffs of ash float to the floor around me from my dissolving selves. Four seemed to be my maximum for now, after trying intermittently for another hour.

I feel like if I could just learn to 'balance' better, I might be able to get more. Alas, the right state of mind eludes me. I'll have to work on that.

"Note to self, learn meditation?"

You know, it's probably a bad habit to be talking to myself all the time, but at least with my duplicate selves it will look slightly less insane now.

Hmm... ok time for another basic experiment. How long can I keep making more selves? Is it infinite, or do I get tired? No-one knows where powers come from, or how they work. For all I know I can only use my power when the moon is full, or some crap like that. Well, that's probably only werewolves, but still. Who knows what rules govern these things?

So I sit down on the couch and turn the TV on to have something to listen to. This could take all day, or I might not _ever_ get tired. Might as well not be bored while I'm testing. To see if there is a limit to how long I can keep making them, I keep up a rotation of selves. Every one and a half seconds (or so), a self would turn to ash, and I'd make a new one as immediately as I could.

There is always a small delay, but the gap between one going and one appearing does get a bit smaller with practice. That's good news, skill does matter somewhat. This means I can work to eliminate the gap.

Maybe one day I'll be able to make the new self appear seamlessly in the same spot as the old, at the exact moment that the previous one disappears. That would let me be two people at once, but one would probably look like they are constantly shedding ashes like some kind of horrible superhero dandruff.

I get bored of the news on TV after a bit, but flipping through channels reveals there is nothing else to watch that's not a rerun or horrible. Daytime television sucks, probably to punish kids who aren't in school.

I eventually give up and start to plan my future power tests. What items I might need to test some ideas, ideas that are too dangerous to test right now, or that I'll need help for. How much of my powers I should hide from others? How to hide this from dad?

After half an hour I finally stop, exhausted and ready for a late lunch. Looks like a fairly strong limit on how long I could do this for. It's not like physical fatigue, more of a mental one. Kinda an odd feeling, this mental fog. By the end of the test, the balancing act in my mind stopped being easy to do. I had to focus on each new self, and it took much longer to make each one.

I hungrily eat some leftover Chinese food. My body demands sustenance, and after the bland hospital food, I'm eager to obey. I also start to write down all my new plans, in case I forget them now that I'm only one self instead of four. One brain can probably only hold so much information.

I'll do more tests tomorrow to see if only having three selves up constantly is less tiring. Having four up for around thirty minutes is my current limit, which is not that great. I'm sure I won't be able to do more useful power testing today, not until I recover.

I wonder if there is a way to recharge my energy? If I had electricity powers, I'd try licking a battery, but how would I charge up teleportation/body duplication? I suppose if I ever notice a sudden increase in energy, I'll try to figure out what happened to cause that. Nothing else I could do until I figured out the rules behind my power.

So, how to think of myself, as a teleporter or a duplicator?

I check my augmented self's notes and decide that having people underestimate me at first might be best. Better to have the public think I'm only a teleporter, and only use my other selves in an emergency. They don't last that long yet anyways.

While I haven't heard about many teleporting villains, I know that lots of people who can make minions tend to go evil for some reason. Like that guy Spree who pretty much litters places with his mindless clones when he is causing trouble. At least my power cleaned up after itself when I was done.

I'm pretty sure that I had not gotten any increases in strength, speed, or durability. I still felt weak from the hospital, so no healing factor either. Sure my reflexes and awareness seemed to get better when I was duplicated, but that won't help me much. It would still be _me_ fighting criminals. Skinny, rail thin, gloomy, geeky Taylor. Even if there was now four of me? That didn't change the fact that I was still just a teenage girl.

I make another self to talk to, "Another note to self, or selves? Learn to fight. Martial arts and weapons for sure would be useful combined with teleportation."

At least I'm making good progress. One day in and I'm already starting to map out the edges of my power's limits. I figure that once I hit all the edges, I could start to figure out neat tricks within the limits. My powers are not that great, but it just means I'll have to work harder and be creative.

Step one of my new plan would thus be to go out for a walk after my dad gets home. I might be able to teleport places now, but I have to build up my fitness somehow with no weights or gym membership. I'll have to improvise. Walking, jogging, then running once I'm not as weak as a kitten, that ought to help.

I lounge around the rest of the day, reading my textbooks and studying. My augmented selves had remembered that homeschooling was a thing, and I might want to look into that later. While my current grades were crap, I used to be quite smart.

I can't help a full body shudder as I think of Winslow High. I don't want to go back. I know that Emma and her flunkies have not gotten punished, they will keep on going, worse than ever now that they know they can get away with this kind of thing.

I don't have to go back to school to get an education. I shouldn't have to! My original plan of going to school, keeping my head down, and waiting the bullying out? That had almost killed me!

I could learn at home from now on, which would give me more time for being a superhero too. Then I'll go to University, get a job, and live a wonderful life that involved _never_ having to interact with the 'terror trio' ever again. Maybe it was running away from the problem, but what else could I do? Teleport in and punch them? Sophia was a star athlete and could probably beat up five or six copies of me. I only had _four_.

My alarm suddenly goes off, cutting short my moping and anger. That means my dad will be home soon, so I start up a fast but tasty lasagna and stuck it in the oven just before I figure he'll get home.

He comes home a bit late, but with an armful of groceries. Restocking the fridge time I suppose. He probably had been surviving on take-out food the last week or so, given how there isn't much fresh food left in the house. I greet him with a real smile on my face. "Hi Dad! Let me help with those."

Today had gone pretty well, and I want to make sure he knows that leaving me home alone all day is a good thing. I grab a bag and look back up at him. I think it must have been a while since I last smiled for real, because he looks kinda funny for a moment before grinning back at me and asking, "So, how was your day?"

"Great! I did some studying, I read a bit, and I made us a lasagna with random mostly canned ingredients. Now that you're home, I think I'm gonna go out for a walk."

"A walk? So soon?"

"Yeah, the doctors told me that the sooner I did physical stuff, the faster I'd recover. I only waited till you got home so you wouldn't get home early, find me gone, and freak out." I tease him gently.

"Well, I'm just worried is all. You won't go far?" He replies more somberly. Tentatively trying to convey that he won't stop me, he just wants me to be safe. I'm touched of course, but have to make sure to nip any thoughts of accompanying me in the bud.

"Course not! Actually I was thinking that once I get better, I want to take up running when the weather is nicer. I'm gonna scout out a few nice paths nearby and plan a workout thing. Get some fresh air and just enjoy the chill of winter. I'm gonna be back just in time to eat. So you go ahead and shower, de-stress from work, and take the food out when the oven beeps?" I silently hope he gets the hint that I need more space, more time.

It seems to work as he nods, puts down the rest of his bags, and starts to take his shoes off. "Ok, if you end up being serious about this running thing, I'm not gonna stop you. I get it. After... You want to be stronger. It's a good goal. Just... Be safe and don't push yourself too hard."

I want to roll my eyes at his dancing around the subject, but he does have a valid reason to worry about me, as annoying as it is. The neighborhood around here is not the best after all. Plus it's not like I've told him that I can just teleport out of danger. To him, I'm his little girl, one who got badly hurt. So instead I nod, grin, pull on my coat and shoes, and walk out into the snow.

As I plan my future running paths, seeing which places have less snow and are better maintained, I come to a small park at the top of a hill. It's not the highest point of the city, just a slightly higher spot that has a good view of the bay. I can see the shipping containers lying like scattered toys, grey choppy water beating up against them. I wonder if I can teleport to anywhere I can see, or if there is a range limit. I impulsively decide that now is a good time to try.

No one walking nearby will even notice a thing as long as I don't ash the self that is standing here. Plus I'm bundled up from the cold, so if anyone does see me appear out there, they won't see much. Not enough to identify me.

I focus and reach out to a blue shipping container on the water. It's a bit obscured by distance and sea spray, but I can make out the broad details as I picked one that isn't too far from shore.

Suddenly I'm there.

I'm still standing safely in the park, but I'm also on a slippery, wet, and tilted metal container. It's coated in lots of ugly rust, metal ridges, and rivets. I see now that what appeared to be darker patches in it are actually holes eaten away by salt, rust, and time. It was hard to tell from the hill just how bad it was out here, and I can't stop from sliding towards the edge as the slightly tilted, ice coated surface refuses to give my feet any purchase. It's all I can do to stay standing, then time runs out and I'm suddenly in one place again.

My heart is pounding harder from the sudden thrill of it all, the secret glee that no one noticed, no one knows that I just did that. I've also learned that I can teleport out pretty far away. Next time I think I'll see if there is a limit, then see if binoculars will extend my range past that.

I briefly wonder if a very familiar location might also work, but no amount of visualization of my bedroom does anything. Looks like imagination and memory is not enough.

I sigh as I keep on walking. I figured it would be like that. From what I've read, most teleportation capes are limited by sight somehow, whether it's photographs, vision, some freaky sensing power, or else they have some way of setting points that they can go to even without looking at it. Each one seems different and many kept the details to themselves, so it's hard to figure out what types are the most common.

The trick will be finding out if I'm one of the ones limited by pure eyeball vision, or if I can also go through camera feeds. That could be useful, since it seems rare. I already know that I'm not the kind that used an extra sensory power, touched people, or anything like that.

I start to daydream about the cool possibilities if I was able to go through cameras. I could team up with a Tinker to make me electronic devices. Drones for camera feeds, and a visor to display it, that would be handy. I could send them out to cover the city, and as soon as I saw a crime, bam! I'd be there to stop it.

Of course, Tinkers are rare, their goods high in demand and needing constant maintenance. I doubt it will ever happen. Even most capes in the Protectorate didn't get Tinker gear unless they paid lots for it, or were best friends with one.

But no point in planning with no way to test it. If I could afford a video camera, I'd have used it to videotape my tormentors and make them stop. If I didn't have to keep replacing stuff they broke or stole, I'd have long ago been able to get the evidence I needed to end the petty feud they seemed to have with me.

It's such a depressing line of thought that I lose all my joy from testing my powers out successfully. I decide to head home and drown my sorrows in cheese.

I arrive with not much time left before the food is done, so I head up to the shower. By the time I'm done showering, I'm pretty angry and frustrated with the whole situation. It all leads back to money, who has it, and who gets screwed by a lack of it.

Dad seems to sense my mood and conversation over dinner is halting, limping, and awkward. I decide to tell him about the homeschooling idea tomorrow, when I'm in a better mood and have planned out how to convince him. No point in bringing it up now. Eventually we separate to do our own thing, falling easily back into the habits and patterns we've developed in the last two years.

The first day of the rest of my life is over.

I think I can do this. I _hope_ I can do this. I need to get better, but I'm going to have to work at it. I _will_ find a way to get money, since money seems to solve most problems in life, and I _will_ find a way to be a hero.

And one day be happy.

As I fall asleep I briefly wonder, should reconsider telling dad? No, I decide. Not yet. He'd stop me, he's too worried about me, thinks I'm too fragile. I've endured everything life has thrown at me, I can endure this too.

* * *

AN: Taylor's main strength is her creativity, so I'm keeping that strong. She won't have Oni Lee's Tabula Rasa degradation. As you can see, her power is subtly different, she is all of the clones at once, and her mind is actually boosted a bit from the extra brain matter.

Obviously if she takes damage to all the selves at once, then it will stick, including mental damage like a concussion, but since she can pick which self to be, she can at least always pick the least damaged, better positioned one.

I did give her a minor downgrade to compensate. Oni Lee threw a knife that remained embedded in Skitters mask even after the clone ashed away. I decided that having any object persist is a bit too powerful, since she could just grab a bit of gold, chuck it while cloned, and build up a huge stash that way. I suppose its a good thing that the original Oni Lee was not able to be creative, or else he might have realized how useful that could be, ditched being in a gang, to live a life of luxury. :P

Oni Lee will be known as Kumo Yokai, since he needs a bug themed name to replace the old one. He will still have the blank slate, tabula rasa thing going on in a modified form, as part of his his personality is spread out into the swarm he controls, and thus he loses bits when the bugs get destroyed, slowly making him into the same blank, cold assassin we all know and love.

I figured that for his power to have such a drawback in cannon, either he took a vial so it was a broken/dead shard, or else something about his trigger event made him not want to feel emotions, not want to think, not want to be in control, or something along those lines.

I hope this answers any power questions you have, and feel free to ask if you have more. I'm trying to keep this very faithful to the original, and using many references and official Wildbow posts to figure out the bits not actually in the story, but that I still need to use for mine.


	3. Stamp 1-3

Day two.

I had set my alarm to wake me up bright and early today, lots of work to do. After some breakfast cereal and a goodbye to dad as he went to work, it was time to test out a few other little things on my list and research more online. I'll work on the endurance question from yesterday last, so I don't tire myself out.

First up was the Manton Effect. Now the Manton Effect was pretty famous, it meant that most capes, for whatever reason, were largely immune to their own powers, or at least the bad parts of it. So that meant that someone like Shadow Stalker, a local Ward who could walk through walls, didn't fall through the ground when using her powers.  
The second part of the Manton Effect was that if a cape's powers were not personal things like super strength or flight, then most of the time they couldn't affect living things with their power directly. Or if they could affect living things only, then objects would be immune. Well, that's what the Internet told me at least.

The most famous example of breaking the Manton Effect was that of Narwhal. Most capes that could create force fields, could only make them around people and objects like a shield. But Narwhal was the major showcase of what happened when this restriction was broken. She was one of the few capes to ever find a way past it somehow. She was known for being able to create her force fields _inside_ people and objects.

That meant that while a normal shield could stop a bad guy from moving around, she could _kill_ someone with a single thought if she ever wanted to. Making a force field inside a heart, or cutting off heads? There would be no way to stop it without having some kind of defensive power yourself. Luckily for us all, she was a major hero from Canada who was the head of the Guild, a Canadian cape group that focuses on helping with international threats like the Endbringers. This means that her scary powers are on the side of good.

But this all meant that I probably had limitations on my power, and should figure out what they were. At least inanimate objects seemed fine to teleport around. I already knew I could teleport my clothing, and wasn't that a relief. I think any cape out there that couldn't teleport with clothes staying on, probably stayed home and pretended they had no powers. I know I would!

However, testing this proved a bit harder than I thought it would be. I was able to teleport with a potted plant, but then I realized that most capes could affect plants just fine, it was only animals and people that they could not. It was winter, so no trying to dig up a worm. I had no pet to experiment with, but I did remember that there are always a few bugs in the basement.

I know that like many folks, we try to keep the numbers down with lots of pesticides. The PRT provided them to all homeowners cheap since Kumo Yokai lives in this city. (Bug control powers, very nasty assassin type, loved his venomous critters and apparently loved Brockton Bay's mild climate. Thankfully in winter he lies low.)  
But I'm sure that with the dramatic bully/locker related stuff going on, plus the money troubles, dad probably hadn't sprayed in a while. Maybe I could find a bug in some forgotten corner?

I almost start to walk down the stairs but then decide with a grin, I'm going to teleport instead. Gotta practice the powers, right? Maybe I just want an excuse to use them, but what's the point of having powers if you don't have fun with them once in a while?

I go bug hunting, rummaging behind boxes and moving furniture out of the way, and quickly realize that we have a lot of junk. We probably need to have a garage sale this summer to get rid of some of it. I use a few extra selves to enhance my perception and it helps immensely, soon I have one live spider trapped in a cup. Time for the moment of truth!

And with no noticeable fanfare, suddenly there are two selves holding two spiders in two sets of cups. I check to make sure that it's still alive, and yup, the bug is moving around energetically in both cups. Yes! Living things are a go.

Also, it is slightly disappointing that I don't have some kind of cool visual or audible effect to accompany my teleportation. But at least that means I can be stealthy if I need to. Plus the ash dissolve is neat. Too bad 'Phoenix', and 'The Phoenix' were long ago taken as cape names, something like that would have been so thematically perfect.

So test one is complete. This means that I can (probably) take people with me. I don't even have to fight criminals to save people, I can just pop them away from danger. Next up is mass. According to my quick research, most capes that can teleport long distances are limited by mass, touch, or other stuff. The few that are not, like the world famous Strider, are super useful.

I already am pretty sure that I'm a touch only type of teleporter, despite many attempts to prove otherwise, so now to see if I have a weight limit. Might be cool to be able to teleport a whole bus full of people around.

I did research on capes pretty much the entire morning, and late last night too. Especially focusing on the teleporters and clone makers. It seems that on average if a cape has a major strength in one area, they would be weaker in another, but not always. Some just get lucky and have _super_ superpowers.

While I was looking for a spider, it turned out that dad had hidden an old weight lifting set in the basement. This is good news since I might start using it to build strength later, when I'm not still weak from the infections and hospital stay. It is way too heavy to lift easily, so I just take out each part individually. I won't need them for long, and then they can go back in the box until I need them again.

I go through all of them just fine, teleporting with each weight with no problems. I'm not expecting any, but it never hurts to be sure. As a last test I even combine them into a ruined backpack that had been used as a football by some guys Emma had charmed with her looks, for a total weight of 50 lbs.

I'm a bit leery about this because there are small rips all over the backpack, but I hope that it holds long enough for me to get a good test out of it. I carefully stand up and quickly port away into two, three, then four selves. Seems good. It's not much weight so I still have more testing to do, but I still feel a ton of irrational joy from the benchmark I've just reached. I even have one self do a little dance as another self, the one I plan on keeping around, starts to take off the backpack, as it is really, really heavy.

Suddenly a weight starts to shift from the victory dance. It slips out, and I notice too late the sudden lack of weight.

"Ow!" The stupid thing landed on my foot! Oh god, I hope I didn't break my foot... I melt that self away hoping that the pain will go away with it. Much to my surprise, it does. Huh.

I felt it plain as day when I was, uh, me? Fuck, I'm gonna need to invent new words for this weirdness. But as my other selves melt away due to the time limit, I inspect my remaining two feet. Nothing. That's good, I had kinda wondered what would happen if one self was hurt in a fight. It's nice to know that hurting one me won't hurt all of the me's at the same time.

Oh, crap, what if I have only a certain number of selves, and if one is hurt it stays hurt?

"That would be incredibly _lame_." I gripe to myself.

I cascade out my full array of selves, two, three, four. Relief as none of them are hurt in the slightest. Ok, problem solved. No lingering injury.

I sigh out loud and can't help but shake my head and say to myselves, "Oh Taylor, it's been almost two years without friends, and now you are making puns to yourself. The depths you have sunk to..."

Back to mass testing. After I put away all the weights, I go upstairs to try with some heavier household objects. I first try to port with the kitchen table, but it fails to happen. I'm sure it's not much heavier than the backpack full of weights... This could be bad.

I cascade into four selves to think about it, and quickly realize that it was probably from the lack of clear space for the second table to go into. Otherwise I'd be able to port myself into solid objects, and wouldn't that be horrifying. Better test this to be sure.

Cringing, I try to port a new self into a tiny storage space, nope. That's a relief. At least that Manton Effect thing is good for something other than limiting me.

Ok, so compact but heavy things to test with then. Ooh, an appliance might work, and I can look up how much it weighs online. I head over to the fridge and give it a bear hug. Feeling incredibly awkward, I try to port to the empty part of the kitchen. Nope. This time I'm sure there was enough room where I was aiming for. It's a skinny fridge, but still no go.

Electrical interference? The plug is still in the wall?

I try with a flashlight, and it works fine, so it's not the electricity from being on. But try as I might, I can't get the fridge to port. Maybe it _is_ too heavy? I can't even lift it, and looking it up online, it's 130 lbs. Add in more for the food inside, and it's probably 170 lbs total.

So unless I have to be able to lift something off the floor entirely to port, then my limit is starting to look kinda low. I won't even be able to port away with a particularly fat man if this is true.

If I have to lift it to port it, then I'm gonna need some tinker-tech power armor to be able to lift things. I groan out loud in frustration. "Ok, so one roadblock achieved unless the 'Quad-Core' selves can think of something." I mumble to myself.

The first thing I think of when fully cascaded is that perhaps the fridge plug is connecting it to the rest of the house. I proceed to test with a plugged in floor lamp, but sadly it works just fine. I end up with a floor lamp in my hand, the cord end dropping to the floor with a 'tak' as it falls from it's previous orientation.

Next up, floor or no floor? The answer is that the floor and other surfaces are acceptable for objects to rest upon, and still be ported by me. So I can put my hand on a paper that is on the kitchen table, port, and it will fall to the ground from my other self's hand as there is no more table holding it up.

At least these experiments make me realize that I barely need any contact at all to teleport something, no need to hug fridges anymore. I can see some possibilities in that, touch some guy's weapon, make a new self far away, he thinks he still has it until I keep that self and his current weapon dissolves to ash.

I might not be able to permanently create stuff like some of the guys who make minions and clones, but at least I can move it even if I'm barely in contact with it. It even works through winter gloves and shoes, so I guess I can affect things connected to stuff I'm touching.

Now, how do I determine my exact weight limit? Since I don't have to be able to lift it, and being plugged in doesn't count as connecting it, the fridge might actually be too heavy for me. I decide to take the easy way out and make another thinking quad. It only takes a few seconds to get the brilliant idea of using buckets of water, after flashing back to some junior high science experiments with density. Water has a precise weight per volume, one easily found online.

It takes time, but I use a measuring cup and start to fill buckets with water, keeping track of how much is in each one on a piece of paper. Eventuality I have a few heavy duty buckets and one mop pail full of various weights of water. It is hard to work with the heavy containers and I have to move slowly to not spill, but I am able to fill one up, stabilize it on the sink ledge, then teleport it to where it needs to go.

I set two on the table in reach of my hands, two others on the floor by my feet. Time to test this out. By touching them with my hands and feet, I can port them all at once. It adds a touch of complexity to the wave of balance, to the duality, but it is easily managed. I want the buckets, and the water, and my clothes, nothing else...

It works! A huge sploosh and mess is created as the hand buckets fall and drench everything nearby. Oops. I quickly dismiss that self in shock, and laugh as everything goes back to normal, but with ash slowly fading everywhere the water went. The one knickknack I toppled remains knocked over from the water, but it didn't break so it's fine.

The amount of water I just ported is 100 lbs total. Each bucket is a pain to move but I carefully swap out one bucket for another larger one waiting on the counter.

110 lbs, good.

120 lbs, still good.

Darn, 130 lbs is too much apparently. I guess the fridge was too heavy after all. Damn it! Daydreams of teleporting cars and buildings go poof. So much for that.

Time to start scooping water out and keeping track of when I can port again. Eventually, at approximately 122 lbs, I can port again. That number makes be blink in surprise. That is eerily close to how much I weigh... Interesting? And since I'm sure my current clothes, plus the plastic buckets themselves weigh at least a couple of pounds, I come to the unfortunate conclusion that I can port only as much mass as myself. That would be useful for a big dude, but I'm kinda useless as a skinny rail aren't I?

"Note to self, gain weight." I sigh sadly. I guess I can't just run only, I need to build muscle, somehow. With my genetics, getting super fat would never work, never mind how unhealthy that would be. Of course, it could be a fluke number randomly generated by the universe. I'll have to test this again later when my weight has changed enough for it to be noticeable.

One last test. I cascade out to all four selves, each with their own duplicated buckets splooshing to the floor and creating a huge soggy mess. It's actually kinda fun to create a big mess like this, one that I don't have to clean up. And the good news is that cascading out to four selves is not affected by the mass I'm porting, nor vice versa. That would have sucked even more.

Aquatic experiments done, I busy my selves with pouring the water back down the drain and cleaning up the few spills that stuck from prior moving things around, then putting the buckets back where they came from so my dad will be none the wiser.

Lunch break time! All this heavy lifting has been a bit much for me, I'm still weak from the hospital. Tasty sandwiches and some leftover lasagna are just what I want right now. Normally I'd eat less but I suppose it's time to start overindulging. It's not like I couldn't gain at least another 10 lbs and still look skinny, I might even look normal for once.

Then it's time for the endurance test, more thinking, and more note taking.

This time with three selves constantly rotating every couple of seconds, I manage to last almost a whole hour before getting mentally exhausted. This is good though, if this holds up, I can expect either one and a half hours with only two selves, or two hours. It depends on if each self halves the time, or only takes away a half hour of it.

Still, so far it's not looking good overall for power strength. There are definitely many capes with more useful teleportation powers. I suppose that it's a good thing I also have that duplication aspect with my selves lingering for a bit, or else it would be awful in comparison to most other teleporters. I'll just have to optimize that five second advantage to make up for it.

I review my notes. The more equipment I carry, the safer I'll be, especially armor, but I'll also reduce my ability to save people. Right now I can only save little children and animals. But any equipment I do carry will basically multiply in effectiveness with every self, so it probably trumps being able to port people at this stage. Not when I can only port a small subset of the population. So for now, I'll focus on getting stronger and designing a costume with lots of options and useful things I can take advantage of duplicating.

I'll have to tell others that I can't port people. At least until I can actually port a useful person or two around. Hmm, perhaps other capes that are also young and small? I know that the local Wards have a tiny looking gal named Vista, I bet she'd be light enough for me to move with.

Of course, that would mean joining the Wards, but it's not the worst option in the world. The possibility of Tinker-tech gear, teammates that are hopefully light enough to move around... I could actually be useful if I had the right team. Of course, government oversight, red tape, and teen drama in a more enclosed social space would be major downsides, but it is definitely on the table for now.

Reviewing the last of the notes, I also seem to have figured out a good strategy for talking to dad about not going back to school ever again. A bit of research is still needed, I gotta be able to back it up with hard data, but I'm feeling confident. Even if I never manage to become a big hero, at least I'll have saved myself from the terror trio. (Again.)

So off to the computer I go, ignoring homework in favour of research and possibly a nap. I still have to try jogging later today, and after the bucket antics I'm beat.


	4. Stamp 1-4

I think yesterday went well.

Too bad that waking up this morning is a pain, literally. I should not have tried jogging after all that heavy lifting, because my entire body is sore. Not just my legs but my arms. Oh my poor arms! Even mostly porting the heavy masses around still didn't save me from this. Ugh. Such regret.

It's enough to keep me in bed just lazing about for a solid hour before I finally force myself to get up.

At least dad agreed to give the homeschooling a try, saying that if I could get a good grade on the year-end standardized tests, then he'd let me keep doing it for next two years as long as my grades don't slip. There's all sorts of official online progress checking things I have to pass too, but I managed to get him to agree that it might take me a bit to catch up and get good grades, so he should only decide my future based on the final one.

Dad was kinda relieved at the idea of me not going back there, despite the fact that he's basically trusting me to teach myself. (Not something most teenagers can be trusted with admittedly.)

I think that as long as I'm not failing the year-end tests too badly, then it won't matter what grade I get. Anything will be an improvement over last year, or how this year was shaping up, and he knows it.

So, time to get all the forms I need printed off at the library, then fill them out for dad. He basically delegated everything to me and is just gonna to show up to the school in a few days to tell them I'm not coming back. He figures that if I want to prove that I'm capable of teaching myself, I can also sign myself up for it.

Oh crud, I'll have to set up an appointment for him too. I should call them this morning before I forget. But first, I think to celebrate I'm going make french toast! I deserve a tasty high calorie breakfast for all this pain and suffering I'm doing in the name of heroism.

Too bad dad had to leave for work early today, he loves french toast. Admittedly, sleeping in for an hour probably contributed to me not being up in time to eat breakfast with him, so it's kinda my fault.

Cooking is kinda fun when you can help yourself with powers. One self is regularly sent out to stir the batter every now and then, one gets sent out to flip the toast occasionally, and I use one to amuse me by trying to juggle eggs and dropping them repeatedly. Good thing the ashy mistakes dissolve fast, and no real eggs get wasted.

Soon I'm eating a double helping of breakfast, at the same time as I wash the dishes. It's a bit tricky since I can only do the dishes in five second bursts and have to be able to look at where I'm porting to, but I get the rhythm of it down quickly. It won't save me a lot of time on chores, but the novelty of it sure helps make it fun.

Stuffed almost unpleasantly full, I decide to make the phone call first, to give my stomach time to digest. Appointment now set up for dad at the end of the week, I get my book bag, some nearly-due library books to return, and head off to go print some forms.

* * *

Right, that was horribly boring. I only realized after the fact that I should have just taken the forms home to fill out with a couple of selves to help. But at least the librarian was nice to me, she even let me use their private printer and not the public one that charges a few cents per page.

I guess I must look more pitiful than normal after that hospitalization... Go me? Work that pity Taylor, work it! I can't help but sigh aloud, getting the attention of some mean looking old lady sitting near me on the bus. I should start a blog, 'Diary of a 15 year old cape! Look at me angst! Marvel at my pity powers!'

I end up letting out a snort of laughter to myself, making the grandmother look at me funny. The old battleaxe glares at me and looks like she considers me the worst kind of hoodlum teenager. No doubt me not being in school means I'm up to all sorts of no good. The disapproving looks don't fade until I get off the bus at my stop.

Time to go home and do the final session of endurance testing, then I had better start studying for school in earnest. Actually, maybe I can study while testing? Hmm, no, a brief four-self cascade in the living-room quickly makes me re-think that idea.

I seem to be able to keep the conclusions I have made while in think mode, meaning that the notes I've been taking are not strictly necessary, and should probably be burned later.

But the exact path I used to get there is kinda nebulous and hazy once I am no longer in cascade mode. (I seem to have settled on that as a term for this... thing I'm doing. That's kinda how it feels to quickly make multiples of me, then let em fade after their time is up, so it seems appropriate.)

Anyways, to find a solution to a problem or boost my brain temporarily, the cascade is great. But to learn _how_ to learn, _how_ to think? I don't know if it would help me at all. Not hinder as far as I can tell, but it could end up not doing much. I have limited energy for experimentation, no reason not to take it slow and be methodical about it.

I'll have to test this with something not important, like reading a normal, fun book, before I can know for sure how my odd new mental boosting power works. I'm not procrastinating on studying at all... Nope, no delaying here...

Oh well, onward, for science!

Two hours later, and I finally stop my endurance test. Phew. Looks like the duration is indeed cut in half for each self, so if I ever manage a fifth self, I will probably only have fifteen minutes worth of constant use. At least until I get better. It's possible that with practice, it will get easier to hold the mental balance required, letting me do it for longer and longer.

Unfortunately it turns out that while I _can_ read two books at once this way, both suffer from the frequent interruptions and trying to process the two different plots at the same time. I seem to be able to retain the info from the first one sorta ok, but the second one I will have to re-read for sure. I feel like I got lost on the plot points, and got things confused with the other story I was reading.

Unlike my perceptions, which seem to naturally be able to process multiple inputs at once, my interior thoughts are a bit more singular, no matter how many times I cascade. At least physical tasks I can multi-task on much easier than mental ones.

On the plus side, having both selves concentrate on the same book at the same time actually helped, a lot!

I didn't think it would help much, since I wouldn't be able to remember the thought flow, but apparently since the other self collapsed every 5 seconds, I got frequent 'status updates' with the current conclusions and thoughts. That seems to have worked like a charm.

I didn't come up with anything wildly new, but it is as if it added more depth, more insight, to what I was reading. It's as if I had extra time to study all the nuances of the book, like I was going to write a book report about it for a class, not just reading it for fun. Stuff like the literary style they used, the significance of the word choices and trying to decide if something was foreshadowing. I think tomorrow I'll have to try this with three and four selves, to see what the optimal study pattern is gonna be.

I settle into my study nook on the couch, and begin to review all of last years material so I have a good grounding for what is to come. I feel kinda content right now. It feels like I'm making steady progress, learning about my new powers, dealing with school so that I can learn in a way that isn't torture, and having neatly solved the bully problem for good.

Still lots to do and learn, but for now I better get to studying for real. With luck, my mental boost will be the difference between barely getting my grades up in time for the end of the year, and acing my tests enough to get a scholarship to a University in a few years.

Tomorrow I'll start thinking about cape stuff like names and a costume.


	5. Stamp 1-5

Welp, disappointment abounds today. Lucky for me, feeling sorry for yourself is hard to do when you are busy trying to chop vegetables with a self that only lasts five seconds. I'm making a fancy supper, mostly because I have nothing better to do and my brain needs a break.

The first major disappointment was the fact that my brain boosting trick will not work with multiple selves rotating in. It seems like having a gap in selves is needed to properly 'set' the enhanced information, so having more than one self up just hinders the process. It looks like instead of getting to enjoy a full 'Quad-Core' for studying purposes, I get only a mild boost with a double. Still better than baseline me, but not as good as I was hoping for.

A quick burst of four selves, then letting them fade and repeating that might work better, but it would be a waste of time and energy since I'd have to study in 5 second increments, not enough time to read more than a sentence or two.

At least I can super-study for up to two hours a day. In fact after the brief experimentation, I made sure to get in a good hour and a half of studying this morning before I did anything else. I figure I'll leave myself some leeway in case I want to do more power testing later today. Plus my power does seem to slowly regenerate during the day, so it seems like I should have a full hour more of super-study tonight if I don't use it all up early.

The next disappointment was that all the good cape names are taken! I chop more angrily at the vegetables upon remembering this, narrowly missing my fingers. At first I wanted something to do with the cool ash effect, maybe something evocative of movement, like Ash Dancer. But then I learned that pyrokinetics are pretty common and they snapped up anything decent and non-villainous related to fire very fast.

Next came the teleportation based names, alas the good ones were all taken too. It seems that while teleportation is rarer as powers go, the flight and speedster capes ended up sharing the same pool of good names. I briefly thought of something like Balance or Cascade, to go with my internal feelings while using my power, but they were taken by some obscure physical type cape in Australia, and a hydrokinetic in Florida.

I ended up with a list of two dozen or so names that were not already taken, but I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about any of them. Things like Jaunt, Jumper, Transit, ect. All generic, bland, or not really me.

One self lets out a huff as I stir some sauce, I was definitely _not_ going to pick a name that emphasized my lame cloning ability, plus they were also my backup plan for keeping myself safe from harm.

I don't have much going for me, so I have to hold onto any advantage I can. I even have a tentative plan for how I'm going to conceal the true extent of my duplicates abilities to anyone except my future teammates.

I try to forcibly calm myself down before I lose a finger. I figure I can mull over the names, adding and subtracting until I get a nice short list that I actually like. I'm in no hurry, I can take a month or two to decide. I can't just pick the first one I don't hate. I have to check if it is easily made fun of or turned into a bad nickname, how will it get shortened, how does it sound when I say it out loud, and so on. Names are important, and I don't want to get named something horrible by the media like "Chubster." (Yup, some poor overweight cape is actually called that, the poor guy.)

Next up on the list of things that turned out disappointing was costumes. Obviously I couldn't do too much decorating without knowing my cape name, since I might want to theme it a bit, but that was probably not going to be my biggest issue. Costumes were harder than one might think.

While members of official teams surely had sources for that stuff, the rest of us were left to either buy costumes, put them together piecemeal with things bought from a store, or make them from scratch. Each option had it's problems.

If you bought a costume online, you ran the risk of being traced, which could blow your secret identity before you'd even put a costume on. You could instead put a costume together with stuff bought piecemeal, but very few people could do that and look good. The final option, putting a costume together yourself from scratch, was just a hell of a lot of work and you could run into the issues of the prior two options – being traced or winding up with a lame costume – depending on where you got your materials and how you went about it.

I didn't have a way to put it together myself, not easily. No sewing skills to speak of, no Tinker powers to let me make it from random junk, nada.

I have a bit of money saved up, so I could probably buy a few things here and there to add to a costume, but I'd have to take my time if I wanted to be discreet. I definitely didn't have the cash to just outright buy a custom costume online from some anonymous Tinker or cape with the appropriate powers.

The other problem was safety. I didn't want to just go out in some skintight leotard. I was not invulnerable. I didn't have anything defensive or offensive about my powers. The only thing that made me think that I could possibly be a hero and not die right away, was the fact that I was pretty sure that as long as all of my selves didn't die at the same time, I'd be ok.

Maybe.

I still have to find a way to test what happens when a self actually dies, since I'm sure its bound to happen sooner or later. It's a dangerous world out there, and online statistics show that most capes don't live very long, especially the independent ones.

Obviously something protective in Kevlar would probably not be cheap, nor easy to find. Motorcycle gear tended to be tough enough to let bikers survive wipe-outs. Probably stab resistant too, but still pricey. Something medieval style would be way too heavy, and likely not protective enough. Useless for my purposes. I seem to recall that many emergency room doctors and paramedics would get stab-resistant coats and gloves because of all the druggies who sometimes went ballistic on them?

Not to mention some kind of eye protection was super important. My power was all about being able to see things to be able to port there. All it would take would be something like sand thrown in my face to blind me and make me defenseless. Plus, I have crappy vision.

I wish my powers had magically fixed my eyes so I didn't need glasses, but alas, it was not to be. So prescription goggles or a visor, or perhaps contact lenses to wear under something protective? I'd have to see what was cheap and available. I might be able to get something colored, making me look different and helping to hide my identity.

Most of the day was spent agonizing over cape names, costumes, and studying. I have the feeling that this is going to be an ongoing headache for me. On the plus side, I also found a few weight lifting exercises I can do at home with dad's basement weight set. I figure that in a month or two I might be in shape enough to actually do something about my plans. Until then, I'm going to keep saving up my meager allowance, keep on pushing myself physically, and start looking into all the thrift stores and pawn shops in the city for cheap costume bits.

Once I have a basic costume that hides my identity, I can start to practice my powers outdoors, working out how to use it best in a fight. I still have lots of momentum based tests I want to try, along with tech tests and injury/death tests. Although I might need outside help with some of those.

Maybe the economy will get better and I can get dad to pay for self-defense lessons? I'll have to learn how to fight somehow...

Oops, speaking of Dad, I can hear his car pulling up!

I hastily stop my power practice, settling into the self that had been stirring the sauce. When dad walks in, I can't help but give him a large grin. This one is half fake, since I'm a bit disappointed that I have to stop using my power now. But it's good to see him relax, he is finally starting to get used to me being happy again.

"Hey Dad, can you take over the chopping? I ran out of time and this sauce needs tending! You can put them in the bowl over there, they are going into the oven later."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." He responds with a teasing grin wide enough to match my own.

Grabbing my abandoned cutting knife, we settle into a familiar routine. It's not much, we still don't have anything to talk about with each other, but the mood, the silent companionship... It no longer feels strained and stifled, no longer filled with quite so many unspoken regrets.


	6. Stamp 1-6

I'm on the roof of an apartment block, looking down at the city. _I'm on a rooftop!_

I'm giddy just thinking about where I am right now. I get the feeling that when I finally get into a cape fight, my head will explode from all the excitement.

Looking out at the small section of city that's visible from here, I don't actually see anything really interesting. Some alleyways filled with trash, melting snow, lights on or off in random patterns in nearby buildings. Lots of couples walking around on the boardwalk, going to restaurants together. I picked this building only because it's taller than its neighbors, so it gives me a better view.

I also learned an important lesson about trying to port up to a rooftop from the ground. Since I couldn't actually see the surface of the roof, my first try ended up with me standing on thin air for a brief millisecond, but unfortunately beside the apartment building, not on top of it. As I started to fall down to the ground, I realized that oops, slight miscalculation. Being able to see the general area of where I want to go to is not good enough.

Luckily no harm had been done to more than one self, and on my second try I had managed to cascade out another me as soon as I got a glimpse of the actual roof surface. I'm thinking that maybe I should port up higher in the air next time, to give me more time to pick a spot to land.

I spin around slowly, snow crunching under my thrift store military boots, taking in all the other rooftops that I can see from here. Cascading out a self to each spot, I'm soon at my limit, each self on a different roof, looking out at the city from a different heights and locations. Suddenly the evening is a bit less dark, sounds magnified slightly.

I can hear one couple arguing in an apartment below about how the boyfriend hadn't made reservations for a restaurant today. The woman is upset because it is Valentines, she wanted to go out, and now all the good places are full.

I see a small family of cats eating something in a dim alleyway, pausing every few bites to look around warily, ears and tails twitching. Snow gathered in corners where the wind has swept it to.

Laughing, my selves melt away till I'm solo once more. I repeat this a few more times before I get used to it. I won't be able to do much when it gets truly dark out, so while its still twilight, I'd best get to having fun! It's Valentines, so what better way to spend it than on a date with me, myself, and I?

Quickly I port out up high over the city, towards downtown. I don't end up as high as I had thought I would, so I use my distant falling form as a reference to port again even higher up. Distances are kinda hard to judge in the air, but I think that if I'm fast enough I can use myself as a marker, leapfrog style. As I feel myself falling, that odd heart-lifting sensation, I port to a distant lit-up billboard. As soon as I am sure that my perch is stable and not going to fall off, I start to cascade out from here abandoning my previous safe spot.

I cover a lot of distance heading south, past the college, now I'm among skyscrapers and tall office buildings. Arcadia High is near here but I bypass it, headed towards the higher parts of the downtown area. I want to go up as high as I can!

I don't fancy my chances of not falling off the pointy, sleek skyscrapers, but lots of the older Chicago-style buildings have flat roofs and elaborate decorations that would make for good hand-holds and spots to perch.

I think I must have been porting for fifteen minutes, just trying out different vantage points, ways of getting there, and so on, before I accidentally get spotted. A couple of guys are standing on one of the office building roofs, smoking cigarettes and hunching over in their jackets from the chill. They look up at me startled as I appear, and I just look back at them for a second, confused.

Quickly checking that I have a safe self to fall back on, I melt that self fast, before the two guys can do anything about it. I guess it makes sense that some people might use the roofs for smoke breaks, but I hope they think that I'm a figment of their imagination. I'm not ready to be a hero yet, so I need to lie low.

Although seeing them miserable from the cold makes me glad that my costume is warm. Bulky sure, but at least it's well insulated. I'll have to figure out a variant for summer or else I'll get roasted alive by the sun, but that's something to worry about later.

I'm starting to decide that I don't like the helmet part of my costume, it restricts my vision too much. I have to turn my head more than I'm used to, just to see where I'm going. Plus I had to pull all my hair in a loose bun just to get it all in here. (And I have a lot of hair.)

It's the one major thing that I didn't buy used, since I read online that once a helmet has protected you from a crash, you should replace it. I wouldn't trust a used one, it might only have been sold after being in a crash. At least it wasn't too hard to get accustomed to the contact lenses. I kinda like the freedom of not having to worry about glasses.

I'm making my way to the shopping district now, away from the Bay. I got bored of the heights of downtown and now its time to try something new. I was tempted to try porting out to the refitted oil rig that serves as the East-North-East Protectorate headquarters, but they probably have countermeasures for that kind for thing, and might take it for some kind of attack. Getting covered in foam and labeled as hostile is _not_ on my to-do list. Tonight is about finally stretching my legs, so to speak.

Ah, there we go, up ahead I see the biggest mall in the city, thronging with a younger crowd. Not many good tall buildings here, except for the mall itself. It's more wide than tall really, but there are skylights in the ceiling so I can look inside without showing myself. The crowd is mostly kids who are too young to go out to fancy restaurants, but still taking advantage of the holiday to flirt and date.

The movie theater looks packed as the parking-lot is completely filled, drivers circling like sharks, waiting for an opening. It is interesting being up here. I can see the crowds moving, swirling as they shop, walk, talk and interact. The traffic outside a counterpoint, a similar dance but one masked by steel, channeled to the strict lines of the road and parking-lot.

I'm so busy people watching from a couple of different skylights that I almost don't notice a cape approaching in the air, but it's dark enough that the small lights on their costume stand out. Outlined is an armored teenager riding some kind of hoverboard. The board itself has some headlights on the front to presumably let him see where he was going in the dark, but they are pretty dim right now. Probably on low power just to cut the twilight's gloom.

I quickly melt into the self that is closest to him, just in case he only spotted that one. Can't be giving away all my secrets so easily. I'm not too worried about being attacked, since I'm pretty sure this is Kid Win, a local Ward.

Brockton Bay has a few flying capes, but most of them have some pretty visible light effects to go with it. New Wave, the independent hero group, has all sorts of light show stuff associated with their powers. Lady Photon, Brandish, Laserdream, Shielder, ect. All would be pretty easy to spot. Then there was the villain Purity who shone like a spotlight, she was hard to miss. This means that it's hard to _not_ see an incoming flyer in this city, especially at night. Kid Win was probably the only slightly stealthy one among them, and only if he turned off his running lights.

My caution proves valid as he arcs in the air, headed right towards me. Looks like he did spot me after all. I'm tense, but only a bit. He's a good guy, so chances are he wants to talk first. Eventually, after I make no hostile actions and barely move at all aside from turning to face him, he lands on the mall roof a good distance away from me. No doubt he want to give me lots of space, just in case I'm a bad guy.

"So, what brings you out here on a night like this?" He calls out playfully. "No date?"

"Nah, I'm testing out my powers and sorta just wandering around. Don't worry, I'm a hero, or will be soon." I hasten to reassure him in a low, calm tone.

I can tell that he has relaxed a bit because he moves his hands away from his hip, likely away from some kind of taser or laser gun. With a Tinker, you could never know what they had up their sleeve one day to the next. It's why they were so fiercely recruited by any major groups, as soon as they popped up. I might not know much about capes, but this much pretty much everyone knows.

"Uh, can I ask what exactly you are testing? And maybe your cape name? Gotta be able to give the head honchos something when I get back."

"Only if you first tell me how you spotted me. I figured that in the dark I'd have been pretty hard to spot but you made a bee-line right toward me."

Kid Win shrugs and taps his helmet. "Heat vision. It's the only way to be able to patrol properly at night, and people stand out pretty well against the cold. Your turn."

I shrug back at him, "I have some possible names, but I haven't decided on anything yet. Still testing my power. Don't want to pick something that doesn't fit me. As for powers, mainly I'm a teleporter."

I grin under my helmet, even though I know he won't be able to see it due to the mirror tint on the visor. Then I turn my head to the side a bit and port to the other side of the skylight, melting my first self almost immediately. Seems pretty seamless, so all my practicing has paid off. I quickly port back, but a bit closer to Kid Win so that the distance won't force us to raise our voices as much.

He lets out a low whistle, "Nice man, we don't have a teleporter on the team at all. Dude, please tell me you are gonna join up with the Wards?"

"I don't know... It's a rather permanent decision to make, and I don't really want to have to deal with typical teen drama right now. Not to mention government bureaucracy and red tape. I mean, having access to gear like your visor, and a team to back me up would be nice, but not sure that it's worth it."

"Oh come on, at least take a tour? I can show you around, you can meet the others. There's actually not much drama in the group, so if you meet them yourself, I'm sure that would put to rest one of your concerns."

"I still don't know if I have the time, I have lots of stuff I want to test and figure out with my powers. I'm pretty busy right now."

Kid Wins posture seems to straighten up a bit, and I figure he's had an idea, or else someone was talking to him with something built into his gear. "Ok, how about we help? I mean, you want to be a hero right? So we could help you test out anything that might be too tricky to do with just your own resources. I'm not sure what kinds of things a teleporter might want to test, but there must be something or else you wouldn't have mentioned it."

"You sure they would help me test my powers without actually joining up?" I ask him skeptically.

"It doesn't come up often but I'm sure that they would, if only so that they know exactly what you can do in case you go supervillain, right?"

He lets out a laugh, but I'm seriously considering the idea. It makes sense as a possible motivation. They might expend some time and resources helping me because I'm another possible hero, and they might lure me in to the Wards that way. But it also lets them know more about me, since I'm sure most of the time the PRT don't get to learn the details of some villains power until after it's too late. So there is a good chance that they would help without me actually having to join, and it would let me asses them better, to see if I might want to actually join.

I realize I've been silent for a few seconds, so I nod. "Ok, if they agree to a tour and helping me test a few thing I can't do alone easily, I'll show up. How will I know if things are good to go?"

"Uhhh, good question. Let me think for a second..." As he ponders this, I study him. He's a bit shorter than me and sounds young, around my age maybe? It's hard to tell since his helmet alters the sound of his voice somewhat. Mine does too, muffling it and making it sound a bit deeper and more hollow, but I suspect his also has a bit of Tinker tech in there to give it some extra masking.

In the dim light, it's hard to make out the details of his costume, but I've seen the photos so I can imagine the bits that I can't see. It's really well put together armor, red and gold in color. His visor is red, he favors laser guns, and he is always changing his accessory's out for new ones. I can't remember much else about him, I'll have to go online later and double check his PHO wiki page.

"Ok, I got it!" He pipes up again, drawing my attention back to the discussion. "You can make a PHO account right? And I know you don't have a cape name picked out yet, but it can just be a temp username till you figure it out. You tell me what name you'll use, and I'll go back and clear things with the Protectorate, let them know everything. Then once you make the account, we message you, set up a time, then you can just pop on in!"

He hesitates for a second, rethinking his words, "Uh, although don't literally do that or it might set off some defenses and then everyone gets covered in foam for a few hours. So. Not. Fun. I set them off once by accident with a new invention, so trust me when I say it's something to be avoided." He sheepishly rubs the back of his helmet.

I can't help but admit to myself that I like this kid. He's not pretentious, he doesn't act superior or anything. He seems just like any excitable guy who isn't afraid to crack jokes at his expense. So far, a normal person. It's reassuring, makes me worry less about this Ward thing.

I quickly think about what username to use temporarily. "Ok, I don't know if I'll be able to get the exact username I want, it might already be taken. But yours is not exactly a secret right? I'll message you tomorrow on the PHO from an account that has 'message' in the username. It might have to be something else like; the message, a message, messenger, but it should be in that theme."

"Wait, a message, from message?" He sounds confused, like he doesn't fully get it.

"Yeah, that way you know it's an account only for passing on messages, so no one will think that it's my cape name."

"Yeah that makes sense, I guess. Ok, I'll keep an eye out for it and I'll be testing you with a question, just to be sure. We'll have you in for that tour before you know it!"

Kid Win starts to step back on his hoverboard but pauses, "Oh and I'll be sure to spread the word around that the new cape guy in a motorcycle helmet and dark coat is a friendly, but you should maybe think about putting some lighter touches on there. Right now you look kinda villainous and that could get you hurt fast with some jumpy capes."

I am taken aback by that, did I really look so villainous? I mean, I knew I was going for stealth so I could get around and not be noticed much until I was ready to actually do some heroics, but I didn't think it was that bad...

Kid Win continues on, heedless of the doubts he was stirring up, "I recommend a stencil cut out of some paper and some spray-paint. That's what I did at first to jazz up my stuff until I could build a proper set of armor. Course, I got recruited for the Wards soon after, but it helped at the time. Good luck dude!" He calls out as he lifts off, leaving me behind as he continues his patrol.

As soon as I'm sure I am out of range of his heat sensor, I port away. It's getting really dark and I might as well go home. I'll have to go to the library early tomorrow to make an anonymous account on the PHO, since there is no way I'm making it on my home computer. I might not be an expert, but I was top in computer class for a reason. IP addresses are a thing, and you can't trust proxy servers for anything other than getting around the schools block on certain game websites. (Not that I go to school anymore.)

Wait...

 _Guy_ in a motorcycle helmet? 'Dude' is vague enough, so is the 'nice man', but combine it all together and apparently Kid Win thought I was a _boy_. And I only noticed it after I had two selves up to port around and think about the conversation, so it's too late to correct him.

Huh. I don't know whether I should be insulted, or pleased.

I already knew I had no figure so to speak, especially not with all the thick gear I'm wearing to keep warm and protect against random villain attacks. With my best feature, (my long curly brown hair) hidden by the helmet, it's probably not easy to pick out anything feminine about me. No face to look at for clues, and I'm a teen so my voice can be forgiven for being a bit high pitched. Probably doesn't help that I'm so tall. Most girls stop growing at 5'4" and I'm already 4 inches past that, and still growing too.

But on the other hand, what better disguise could I have for my real identity? People would be looking for a guy my height and build, and would probably assume I'm older too from the height. As long as I make sure to keep my voice low, it should work.

I make a quick quad-cascade on some random rooftop to think about it, and decide that yes, I'll do it. Pretending to be male is the best way to hide my identity, and it won't even be that hard to do. I'll add in a few touches to help emphasize it when I take Kid Win's advice about the decorating.

Decision made, I finish porting the rest of the way home over the next half hour, taking frequent breaks. I'm pretty exhausted power-wise as I sneak into my room by porting right in using a window I had left clear of curtains, and a dim lamp light on inside to let me see my destination. It makes me realize that I should probably do more walking next time, to save the teleports for when I needed them. I didn't have unlimited teleporting and every time I went out like this would be a day I couldn't super-study as much.

Hiding my costume in the depths of my messy closet, I strip down and crawl into the suddenly very needed bed. Ahh... Bliss...

* * *

AN: Yes, I know I spent 5 chapters on power testing. But with any luck this story ends up really long and it seems like less. Plus they were short chapters. I was trying to just bang them out fast in my limited spare time. So here you go, Taylor is out, about and meeting other capes. The plot has started!

Oh and keep in mind that since Taylor gets a different power in this story, she is no longer a possible way to save the world, at least not in the same way. Thus Cauldron, aka mostly Contessa, will be manipulating things slightly differently this time around. Their main focus is still on making lots of powerful capes so that at least a few of them might be able to help in the end days, but small changes have been made to the 'Path to Victory'. (This is an Alternate Universe after all.)


	7. Stamp 1-7

Four days later and I was in my slightly upgraded costume, walking toward the downtown PRT building. Turns out the Wards were hosted there, instead of at the Protectorate base on the oil rig. Kinda odd, but I guess that made it easier for them to get to it every day without standing out.

It was a pretty nice day today, the snow was melting really fast. Lots of water running in the gutters, making little channels in the slushy snow. Icicles dripping all over the place. Most of it would be gone by March, save for the huge mountains piled up in parking-lot corners.

I get some stares as I walk, but that's to be expected. It's daytime, just an hour after school normally lets out, and I'm fully covered up in what could almost be motorcycle gear, but is a little too costume-ish. I try to walk with confidence. They don't know who I am, I'm a cape, I have power, I can do this!

In addition to the tough but worn leather jacket, thick military boots and sleek teardrop helmet, I have some of the thickest jeans I could find in the men's isle of a discount store. All the better to help with my disguise now that I'm going to be showing myself in the daylight. I have crudely spray painted some wings on the back, as feathered as I could get them, to make it seem like angel wings. That's about as clear of a signal I can do for 'Good Guy Here', as is possible. I also added a little halo around the top of my helmet, in case the subtlety of the wings is lost on anyone.

Scattered under my over-sized clothing is an assortment of thin, armored but flexible guards. Mostly the kind you wear for rollerblading or biking. Knee-pads, elbow, and some arm and shin guards too. I even added some padding to the shoulders of the jacket, although that is more to pretend to be a boy than for safety.

I'm kinda glad that I have a good power for getting around, as it means that I never have to worry about leading someone to my house. It won't matter if anyone tries to follow me back home after this meeting, I can lose them easy unless they are really determined about it and have some speedster on my tail. Maybe that's a bit paranoid, but better safe than sorry!

I glance up at the PRT building up ahead. It's a fair sized steel and glass structure. Reflective windows mirror the bright blue of the sky overhead, helping send beams of sun down to lance the snow.

I need to cross the street to go in. It's about time for the appointment I set up and I don't want to be late. I had made sure that it would be after school so they think I'm still a student, but traffic is jammed from the start of rush-hour and the nearest crossing has a large pool of water under it. Occasionally ripples and splashes are sent up from the cars crossing it.

I'd teleport across but I'm still trying to keep my powers, my existence, a secret from the general public. I want a good solid game plan before I finally let loose, and I still have tons of notes to make, things to test, and exercise to do. At least I know that the PRT won't release info about me to the public until I start to actually do something.

I'll just have to walk around to the farther crossing, I won't be early, but just on time is fine.

When I finally get there, the revolving doors give me easy access. I see various employees in suits hurrying in and out of the building, talking in groups. A team of four PRT officers are on standby, each stationed at a different area of the lobby, outfitted in the best equipment money could buy. All have chain mesh and kevlar vests, helmets that cover their faces, and firearms.

The equipment differed a bit, as two of them had grenade launchers hanging from straps on their shoulders with bandoliers of grenades. The other two had what appeared at first glance to be flame throwers but were probably foam guns. Were they to pull the triggers, they would eject a thick, frothing spray of foam, enough to contain all but the strongest and fastest villains.

In an amusing contrast to this, there is also a gift shop that is thick with kids (who probably came from Arcadia to be here so fast), sporting a selection of action figures, posters, video games and clothing. Four-foot tall pictures of the various Protectorate and Wards team members were placed at regular intervals around the lobby, each backed by bright colors.

There was a cheery guy waiting patiently by the front desk, smiling handsomely at anybody who happened to glance his way. I figured he would be the guy to ask about my appointment. Some kind of receptionist for sure.

I walk up, letting out the breath that I've been holding since I walked in, and ask in a low voice, "I'm here for a tour of the Wards? 4 pm? I'm supposed to tell you I left a message?"

The man blinks, nods at me and says in a surprisingly thin and reedy voice, "Ah yes, 4 pm right on the dot. Right this way sir!"

He leads the way to a small, nicely appointed waiting room, and gestures to a seat. "Your guide will be here shorty."

As he walks back out to the lobby, I look around for entertainment but can't see a single newspaper or even a magazine. The seats are fairly plush and comfortable, the art bland, and I hope I don't have to wait here long since there is nothing to do or read. But not more than half a minute later, in walks Miss Militia. Wow, I was not expecting one of the Protectorate member's to come show me around. Figured I'd get a flunky at most.

She's the type to stand out in almost any crowd, just has this kind of energy around her. She directs what is probably a smile at me, although all I can see is the corners of her eyes crinkling up.

She's wearing a modified military uniform, tight enough to accentuate her curves. She's sporting her usual scarf wrapped around her lower face, with an American flag embroidered on it, and a similar sash around her waist. Her trademark weapon is only a dagger at her side right now, in a simple sheath.

"Hello, I'm Miss Militia and I'll be your guide today."

I get back up to my feet, and nod at her. "Uh, hi. Wow, I didn't think you would be the one showing me around. I didn't think I would get more than maybe a PRT officer... So what's next?" I ask hesitantly.

"Well first we just have to go through a brief security screening to make sure you don't have anything dangerous on you. It is non-invasive and I promise it can't tell us who you are, only if you have weapons on you. Incidentally, it would be best to declare that sort of thing now before we go on. This includes biological and explosive weapons, as well as mundane weapons."

"Nope, nothing like that. Normally I'd have a small knife on me, but I figured it wouldn't be cool to bring it here."

She nods, opens the door that is opposite the one I came in by, and leisurely leads me down a corridor that is very white, and very long. At the end are two more PRT officers. They nod at Miss Militia and one crisply salutes her. "Report is all clear Ma'am. No identifiable hazards."

Oh. I get it, the entire passageway probably had sensors and stuff all behind it, disguised as a really boring hallway. Smart. I could have just ported past, but that would get me foamed and raise alarms. Good thing I'm not a bad-guy. Trying to sneak into this place would be a bad idea.

Miss Militia leads me to a very impressive looking elevator. Interlocking sections of metal unfold and slide apart as we approach, then close behind us. The ride is so smooth that it is nearly impossible to tell that the elevator is moving.

"We are about to visit the Wards main headquarters. This tends to be where they hang out when on duty or on call. Each Ward has quarters here for when they need to sleep after a busy night and can't take the time to go home. Debriefing after missions happens here, along with getting new ones."

She explains as we walk down a long featureless steel corridor. I'm guessing there are more sensors scanning us, seems like a sensible thing to do.

We arrive at a security terminal, and she leans forward to let it scan her eyes. There is a pause after she straightens up again where nothing happens. Not exactly what I was expecting... is it broken?

As if she can sense my confusion, she mentions, "We are just waiting a bit to give them time to get masks on, in case any of them forgot that today was the meeting with you. The red light will turn green when we are good to go."

Ah, I hadn't even noticed the red light as being significant before, just thought it was a power on type indicator.

I notice that Miss Militia seems to be immune to fidgeting as we wait, but her weapon occasionally flashes from one type of weapon to another. Perhaps this is her version of a bored tap of a finger? The little light goes green suddenly, steel doors click, then whisk open with a barely audible whirr. She ushers me inside, her weapon having settled into a rifle of some kind slung across her back.

The room was roughly dome-shaped, but there were sections of wall that looked like they were able to be dismantled and rearranged along various tracks in the floor and ceiling. A series of computers and large monitors were networked at one side of the room, surrounded by over a half-dozen chairs, most filled with Wards. One of the monitors was displaying a big flashing red 0:00, while others were showing camera images of key locations in the city.

All of the Wards were looking at me in obvious curiosity as Miss Militia introduced us. (Not that they needed any introductions, but I suppose it was only polite.)

"Aegis is the current leader, next oldest is Clockblocker, then Gallant." They all nod at me or wave as their names are mentioned.

"Then we have Shadow Stalker, Kid Win, whom you have already met, and Vista." The only one who fails to react is the mysterious Shadow Stalker.

Then she addresses the Wards, "This is a new prospective member, currently no cape name. You guys will be helping us test out his powers in a half-hour, after the meet and greet. I do hope you read the briefing Kid Win gave us? I am here mostly in a supervisory capacity, but I'll leave the rest up to you guys."

Then she steps back and out of the way, leaving me all alone and staring six other capes in the face. I gulp deeply out of sudden nerves.

Gallant immediately lives up to his name, "Hey, lets not just all stare at the new guy. Come on over, take a seat. I promise we don't bite."

I quickly move to do so, at least it will put me in the semi-circle's arc, instead of being the focus of it.

"So..." Asks Clockblocker, "Teleporter huh?"

"Yeah, wanna see?" I offer as I stare briefly at the moving clock imagery on his costume. I think he took his theme a bit too far, but it sure is distracting so maybe it's useful for him.

"Of course! Plus if we see it, we can maybe help you test stuff out better later-on right?" Vista replies with a visible grin. She seems like a bouncy, cheerful kid.

I oblige and make a quick port in front of me, a second self standing up and doing a sort of 'ta-dah' hand gesture. This time I let my sitting self linger for a few seconds before melting it. Then I sit back down in the just vacated chair.

"Woah, hey, you said you teleported, but there were two of you for a bit there!" Kid Win exclaims. "You didn't do that last time!" I can't help but chuckle at how gobsmacked he sounds.

"Yeah, like I told you, I've been busy testing and figuring stuff out. Turns out I can leave a sort of 'afterimage' behind. It doesn't last long though."

I'm kind of proud of this little bit of misdirection. It's true enough, but it makes it seem as if I ported forwards and it's only a temporary illusion or clone left behind. Both are actually the real me, but it's safer if people think that only one is real. I figure I'll let them in on the secret if I decide to join up, along with my real gender and identity.

"Well, Kid Win said you were having trouble coming up with a cape name, how about Afterimage?" Aegis suggests with a casual shrug, showing off his impressive muscles.

"I actually was seriously thinking about it, but then some cape in the UK took it, literally a day before I met Kid Win. Talk about heartbreaking." I groan playfully.

"Ooch, that does suck." Vista wrinkles up her nose in sympathy.

"Oh boo-hoo, who cares what name message boy picks? He might not even get to keep it in the end." Shadow Stalker finally stopped lounging around looking disinterested long enough to direct this caustic remark at me, wow. What kind of bug crawled up her ass and died?

Aegis tries to calm her down with a low, soothing tone. "Hey, it's not his fault that the higher ups decided that you needed a bit of a more 'family friendly re-branding'."

"In a week she's getting re-branded as 'Myst Shadow'." Clockblocker gleefully whispers to me in a fake and loud whisper from behind his hand. "She was really insistent on keeping the 'Shadow' part, but they wanted to ditch the Stalker bit, said it sent the 'wrong message'. Needless to say, she is getting a whole new, less scary costume to go with it and is _not_ pleased."

Shadow Stalker (soon to be Myst Shadow), just crosses her arms and sulks, ignoring this gossip. I can almost feel the anger radiating off her. I'm sure Gallant (who is supposed to be able to read emotions off of nearby people), can probably _taste_ it, it's so thick.

"Sooo..." Vista nervously tries to change the subject. "Do you want to know anything about the Wards program? They said you were only considering joining?"

"Yeah, I want to keep my options open for now. I already know the basics of it, I did my research. The Wards program has lots of benefits, but also lots of problems." I shrug and leave it at that.

They probably don't want me to get into how the Protectorate seems sometimes more concerned about image, and less about stopping villains... Especially after that little bit of anger at 're-branding' from Shadow Stalker.

"Ok, we can talk about that later then, maybe after we've shown you how cool our power testing facility is?" Gallant offers with a smile. It's pretty much the only part of his face that can be seen, but at least its a nice smile. I wonder briefly if he practices it in a mirror.

"What other stuff can you do? Any current limits so far? Just so we don't duplicate anything you have already tested..." He trails off expectantly.

Right, time to get down to business, "Ok, so I think I have a mass limit, no more than 120lb, or thereabouts. It includes my costume too. So realistically its more like 110lb. I only have to touch it to be able to take it with me, and I can leave up to 3 afterimages at once, if I teleport fast enough. I can choose not to leave them behind too. They aren't good for much yet, but they do carry out actions that I was about to do, or want them to do, for the few seconds until they melt into ash."

I shrug at them, and shift nervously on my chair. All this attention is starting to creep me out a bit, no doubt leftover hangups from school, when the only attention I got was the bad kind.

"Oh and so far, everything is just line of sight only. It's one reason why I'll be happy to test things with you, to see if there are ways of extending my range. I know its kinda short range compared to some teleporters who can go anywhere they have been before, so I'm hoping I can extend it with some tinker-tech."

"Oh, I can probably help you test that!" Kid Win replies with a bit of excitement.

"I'm also kinda curious about momentum and injurys, and plan to test that here too since I'm sure you have stuff I can use safely. Otherwise I would have had to try some tricky and dangerous experiments alone. I figure better to do it when I have people who can stop me from getting hurt too badly if it goes wrong. But no other powers that I know of."

As I finish my summary I see that most of them are serious, paying attention to me.

Vista is biting her bottom lip as she thinks about what I have said and is clearly trying to come up with something new to test. Clockblocker is scratching his head, but he was nodding along as I explained so he probably just has no ideas that I haven't already covered.

Kid Win is hard to read since he has a full face helmet, but sounded excited a second ago. Gallant seems to have had an idea since his body posture seems eager and slightly more energetic than before the summary. Shadow Stalker hasn't moved except to shake her head and sigh. She seems like a real downer, an instigator of the kind of drama I was hoping to avoid.

After a few seconds where no-one speaks up, Gallant clears his throat and offers up his suggestion, "My idea is, what happens if we, aka Clockblocker, time-freeze an afterimage? It probably won't tell us much, but it could prove interesting. Power interactions are always neat to explore."

"Oooh, lets try it! We don't even have to go down to the exercise room for this one!" Clockblocker at least seems enthusiastic about the idea, and from what I know of his power, it can't possibly hurt me. The wiki on him says that he can basically freeze people in time for a few minutes, and nothing can affect them until they unfreeze again.

"Ok," I nod, "lets try it."

Unfortunately Shadow Stalker sees fit to interrupt just as I'm about to do it. "Really? What's the Frikking point? Messenger boy is useless! He can't move people around, he looks like a beanpole so he can't fight worth a damn. All he can do is teleport into the waiting arms of an enemy and die. Horribly. Probably the most useless teleporter I've ever heard of. All he'd be good for is delivering packages."

She snorts with derision, "Heh, Messenger... That's all you are. Maybe you should give up this notion of fighting villains and go home, get a job with FedEx."

I wish that she could see my glare right now, but I'm not going to show her my face just to make my displeasure known. Instead I ignore her and cascade out my full array of selves, finding with surprise that I am almost able to make a fifth. I'm closer than I've ever gotten before. Maybe anger or adrenaline helps? I had been trying meditation and calmness, but perhaps I needed the opposite...

I focus on the experiment and create my selves to be all near Clockblocker, save for the last one created whom they all think is the real me. He is surprised, still looking at Shadow Stalker in what looks like shock at the outburst, but reaches out and touches one of my selves. It disappears from my awareness as it freezes into place, but I don't feel as if I could replace it, it's still somehow there.

I take the time to now focus on Shadow Stalker, in the last second before I have to start forcibly dissolving my oldest selves. (I'm keeping the exact duration a secret for now.) I want to know why she is being so hostile since I don't want to have a hero as an enemy, and I really don't think my powers are _that_ bad. I rapidly come to a startling conclusion. But... That can't be right?! There's no way that... Sophia?

The tone, the voice, the body posture, the same meanness of spirit.

Sophia.

No no no nononononono... That is part of my old life. That's a school problem. I don't have school anymore, so it should no longer be a problem! How did she manage to somehow beat me here?! No, I'm thinking irrationally, emotionally, I need the calm of the wave, of the balance. I quickly cascade again, only three selves now since the fourth is still time locked.

Clarity.

I can see Gallant starting to get upset, worried, in the second that has passed since I figured it out. The others are just staring at me in confusion as it looks like I'm just teleporting randomly now. No doubt Gallant has picked up on my spike in emotions.

Crap. I'm trapped. I can't just leave. There are no windows, and I'm deep underground.

Trapped.

Panic.

Ok, so Sophia is Shadow Stalker. A cape. Somehow the PRT is too incompetent to notice that a Ward is bullying other students, to the point of helping shove one in a locker... I shudder involuntarily with all my selves. That locker... No, focus!

Focus.

Maybe the PRT knows about it, but decided that they have to keep their pet hero happy, sacrifice one or two normal kids on the altar of 'it's just a prank' or 'there is no evidence'?

Fuck!

No _wonder_ nobody at school ever paid attention. The office assistance shredding my complaints. Teachers like Mr. Gladly ignoring the comments made in their hearing. The principal saying that they could only help pay medical bills but there is was no evidence pointing to any perpetrators, despite plenty of kids being there and seeing it happen. It was at the very least assault and attempted murder, or at least manslaughter. I had looked it up later. Only my new powers kept me from dying.

The school knew, or at least enough of them knew, that she was a Ward. So they hid her crimes, made sure I couldn't get anywhere with my complaints.

Anger.

Cascading out again to extend the time I have to think about this, while not giving away how long my selves last, because _fuck_ giving her any more information about me. I can't join the Wards. Not now.

It was a possibility before, but I'd rather die first now that I know. I want to die. To curl up in a ball and give up.

No, I have to endure, to survive.

If _she_ wasn't here, I would have eventually given in to the lure of teamwork and tinker-tech, but the PRT is clearly too corrupt. I don't even hate Sophia as much as Emma. Emma is the one who truly betrayed me, Sophia is just a bully. But this is too far.

Determination.

I stop teleporting around and give them my undivided attention just as Gallant finishes asking me, "Uh, dude, whats wrong? You ok?"

"What is wrong is that I figured out who s _he_ is," I point right at Shadow Stalker, "and as such, I cannot _believe_ that you would accept a bully and an accessory to assault and attempted murder."

They all look very taken aback at this statement, neither confirming nor disproving my suspicions that they knew about her 'activities'. It's hard to get a read on them with only one self, but I don't want to do anything threatening now that I'm claiming to know a secret identity.

This is a dangerous, dangerous game I'm playing. This is only confirmed as Miss Militia who had been silent up till now steps up behind me and asks in a quietly but absolutely scary way, "Explain."

"I know who Shadow Stalker is. As much as I am tempted, I won't tell anyone. Even _I_ know that you don't go around exposing secret identities without consequences. But I cannot even _think_ about joining a team that has _her_ on it."

I force the words out, my voice growing hoarse as I hold back tears.

"She has spent the past year and a half bullying this girl called Taylor at school mercilessly, along with two other girls. It culminated in Taylor being shoved in a locker, one filled with used tampons, pads, and other assorted _filth_."

I practically spit that last word, briefly losing control of my attempts at blocking out my emotions.

"Taylor almost _died_. She _would_ have died if I had not let her out of the locker when no-one was looking. After I realized that no-one else was going to. That is one of the reasons why I want to be a hero, to stop people like her. I _can't_ be on the same team as her. Either the PRT knows about this and does not care, or it's too _incompetent_ to know what its Wards get up to. Either way, I do _not_ want to be a part of this organization."

I take a deep breath in and get a hold of myself, trying to not break down as I turn to Miss Militia and tell her, "I want to leave now, so please let me out."

I had focused on describing things as if I was not the victim, as just another bystander. It's the only way I could think of to distance myself from the pain and emotions, enough to hopefully not have a _complete_ meltdown in front of them. Although that wouldn't help much against the emotion sensor. It seems to be working so far, distancing myself from the nausea welling up inside me.

"Oh please..." Shadow Stalker speaks up, voice dangerously low. "You don't honestly believe this nameless beanpole? It's clear that you must be one of my rejected suitors. You probably got all worked up over asking me out, only to get rejected. Heart broken, crushed, and stomped. Now you want to get revenge on me for turning you down for a date? Pathetic. How could you use poor Taylor's horrible attack against me like this? It's beyond pathetic." Her tone is wounded, but to me it just sounds mocking.

When I don't react to her, or try to defend myself from her lies, she gets even angrier for some reason.

"I am a _great_ hero," She practically snarls, "much better than you ever will be, and you are just jealous. You just want to knock me down a peg. Well good luck with that. I'm a Ward. Without any proof of your baseless accusations, there is no way they will get rid of me. Plan failed, loser."

She turns and stalks away, leaving behind her teammates in various unreadable emotional states. Makes me briefly wish I had Gallant's powers. I look at Miss Militia again. I dully repeat, "I want to go now. Please let me out. I don't want to talk about this any more."

I'm trying to stay calm, rational, trying to feel the wave without actually cascading, but it's not working. As I see her hesitate, not moving toward the door, I cascade again, all selves letting out a strangled sounding, "Let me out!"

I'm starting to feel sick and claustrophobic. To think that I came in here, trusted them a bit, even told them about some of my power's limits. Trusting that the authorities would actually help me a bit, if only because it was in their best interests to do so. Big mistake apparently.

The walls partitioning the different areas of my life were crashing down, all because one of my bullies was a cape. A _hero_ , I think with all the sarcasm I can muster. That circle of hell, one I thought I had left behind, that I had out-endured, that I had survived, it now was firmly re-established right around the Wards.

Gallant must have sensed something in my emotions, or that last cascade scared him into action, because he literally flew to the door, one hand raised up to stop Miss Milita from doing anything. It opens after a brief scan of his face, despite his eyes being covered by his helmet, and then he is moving down the hallway at a fast pace.

I resent him coming with me in the elevator, not giving me space, but it probably would not work if I wasn't accompanied by someone official. He presses a button and up we go. I'm determinedly ignoring him, trying to breath deeply and evenly, trying not to feel trapped in the small elevator.

The door opens, unfolding in its strange way. I don't see the previous boring security room, instead I see a few large offices up ahead, with glass partitions dividing them and big clear windows with a view of downtown. I breathe out, some tension bleeding out of my shoulders slightly. I'm out.

Gallant tells my left behind self, "I'm sorry." There is a long pause, "I thought this might be a faster way for you to leave than going through security again."

I nod at him, then that self dissolves into ash.

One minute and thirty-four seconds after I'm gone, the self time-locked in the Wards headquarters unfreezes and I almost lose it, but quickly manage to balance the wave out of reflex. I keep that self as still as possible, listening in, because it turns out that there is a bit of a heated discussion going on. I can only catch a few seconds before that self runs up against the time limit.

Since I don't want to be back in there again I let it dissolve, but not before hearing Vista midway through a sentence, "-absolutely disgusting, I can't believe-"

Kid Win cutting her off, "Much more believable than the idea that some random cape would lie for no reason."

"I refuse to patrol with her anymore." Clockblocker folding his arms angrily.

"Look," An exasperated Miss Militia interjects, "We have no proof. We only have one persons word. We cannot do a-"

And that's it, time up. I wonder what they did when my frozen self abruptly dissolved in the middle of the argument. It's clear they had forgotten about it. Probably for the best that they think it's just a mindless clone acting out the last few seconds of my intended actions.

I'm busy teleporting straight to the ship graveyard when this happens, where I can be sure that no-one will bother me. I need to be alone. I need space, lots of space.

Not even villains claim this area as territory, they only care about the warehouses and docks nearby. Although to be fair, not many would think about a big pile of half submerged boats and shipping containers as 'territory', due to the difficulties of getting out there to claim it in the first place.

The good news is that it looks like most of the Wards didn't know about their little bully problem. That makes me feel better about my judgement, as I had started to like them in the brief time I had spent with them. The bad news? I'm freaking pissed off, and there went my best chance at being a hero.

Fuck.

I'm starting to like this word. I never used to swear much, but it seems like life is conspiring to give me situations where it's the only word that is appropriate. I'm Fucked. Fuck them. Fuck her.

I teleport out to a big pile of tangled ships, rusted sides gaping open. Suddenly I'm on the deck of one of the nicer looking ones, one of the few that is actually rather level, and not wildly askew.

I _finally_ let all this anger, this hate, bubble up and spew out in a scream. I shout it to the ocean. I curse the PRT, governments and authorities in general. I rail at the twists of fate that leads to a mortal enemy and villain being given a favored place at the heroes table. (Not in such elegant terms of course, there is rather a lot more swearing involved.)

I kick the rails of the ship with cascaded selves, reveling in the brief busts of pain, having no fear of actually breaking my foot. I throw a proper tantrum, out here in the middle of no-where. Where absolutely nobody can see or hear me.

Then I finally wind down and stop, my voice hoarse. Tears are running down my face, but are thankfully hidden by my helmet. I slump to the deck, spent, and feeling a bit better.

I hear a footstep behind me as someone steps up from the stairs leading below, and a man's voice calling out tentatively, in rich deep tones, "Uh, you alright there?"

Shit.

* * *

AN: I read today in a WoG post that Wildbow actually made up a list of characters in the first Endbringer fight, and then rolled randomly to see who would die to Leviathan. Neat huh? Apparently he even had a backup main character ready for if Taylor herself died.  
I plan on keeping the Leviathan attack and the bombing chaos that leads up to it, solely because that also causes lots of other deliciously painful chaos like the S9 and such to visit town.  
So I think that I'm going to emulate Wildbow, and Leviathan will also have random deaths generated for _all_ the characters. So instead of the cannon list of deaths, it will be all new ones! (Because by then, Taylor's actions will have rippled out enough to make it so that some changes are in order.)

Anyways, got some good questions in the reviews, so I thought I'd answer them here so anyone else wondering the same thing can read it...

First off, **Roanoak** asked: If two Taylor clones tried to teleport together would their carry capacity be doubled?

 _Answer:_ I'm afraid not. Each self can split off another self in its line of sight, until there are too many selves and her limit is reached. But two of them doing it at the same time just makes two more, each carrying whatever it was carrying. Then in the end, only one gets to keep on being real.  
This means that if two of them hold onto a heavy table and they both port another self, then both new ones don't have any part of a table, because it was too heavy for either one to have.  
I had to decide upon this early on, since otherwise it opens up the possibility of both porting half of a person. Then once the other clone/selves melt into ash, so would half of the person, whichever half was being 'held' by the clone that melted away into ash. This is horrifying, and a very unintended use of her power.

Second question, **Lendary** had a rather long message, but to paraphrase, it was basically "OMG, Taylor can copy people? Broken power?!"

 _Answer:_ Nope! I can see why you are worried, but don't be. Don't forget, Oni Lee could also transport organic material, as Skitters bugs were able to be duplicated by him, and that is how she sensed where he was a few times in the original story. So I'm not totally twisting his power too much.  
Plus, I made sure to give her a strict enough mass limit that she'll never be able to teleport anyone big. Very few people are lighter than her, and she'll never be able to get super massive unless she convinces some bio-tinker like Panacea to totally twist and warp her. Basically she can rescue small children, people with dwarfism, and pets.  
Lastly, I haven't had her actually try to port with another person yet, but when she does, you will find out quickly why it won't mean an easy OP duplication of any other capes powers.  
About the best case scenario? Eidolon could use one power to make himself smaller in mass to make this possible, or to increase her mass somehow. Then he needs to use his second power to deal with the side-effects of her duplication, since her brain is configured to be able to handle it, his is not. Leaving him one power to actually use, duplicated.  
So he can be ported around by her, using one power up to 4-5 times, but each self gets cut off every 5 seconds, so no lingering effects are possible. Honestly, he could just get a mover power himself, maybe something to let him split into two, and then the third blasty power, and he'd be better off, not having to rely on someone else's reactions and sense of timing.


	8. Stamp 1-8

Shit!

I freeze in place, completely and utterly shocked that someone was out here in the middle of nowhere. What's worse, they had just witnessed my tantrum. Spinning out a cascade of selves so that they are farther away from him and looking in his direction, I take a good look at the man who has caught me at such a crappy moment.

It's an incredibly well muscled guy, broad shouldered and tall. He is wearing completely ordinary clothes with one exception. The ordinary part is the baggy grey sweatpants, some thin gloves for the cold, and a ragged t-shirt that has a faded picture of some cartoon orange fish on it and the words 'Once I evolve, I'm going to kill you all!'. (Not a good sign, that t-shirt.)

Then topping it all off is a simple white cloth mask that covers his entire face save for two holes that reveal icy blue eyes. A mask means he's a cape, and thus more dangerous than some random guy living on a boat. Next I notice that he has one gloved hand out in a calming gesture towards me, but the other is hidden behind his back, holding some kind of short sword. I wouldn't have been able to see it from my first position, but two of my cascaded selves can see enough from different angles to fill in the picture.

He takes a step back and his eyes widen as he regards my cascaded selves. Unfortunately for him, it seems like he forgot that the stairs started right behind him, as he finds only air behind his foot. He has to quickly reach out to the railing with both hands to stop his fall, ruining his dramatic entrance and appearance quite a bit. He also reveals his weapon more clearly as it clangs against the metal railing in his haste not to fall backwards, looking kinda like one of those European medieval style weapons.

The absurdity of it all forces a bit of a chuckle out of me, and I melt them all save for the last one I made. Now I'm standing, facing him a safe distance away. Hopefully I'm far enough away that he can't lunge at me before I can teleport out.

I figure any cape who is that clumsy or forgetful, is probably not one who will (or can) instantly kill me and all my selves. However as a safety precaution and to enhance my thinking, I decide to constantly send out a self to a far off point in the distance every five seconds. I pick a crazily leaning crows-nest type structure on one large ship at the limits of my vision, figuring that it is far enough away that it will be safe, and more importantly, unseen by this guy.

So now that I feel safer, I am free to indulge my curiosity about what the heck some random cape is doing out here, plus I'm still feeling crappy, vulnerable, and emotional. I need to take my frustrations out on something, and who better than the guy who's interrupted me? "What are you doing here? How did you even get out here?" I angrily ask him.

"Well, I _was_ working out downstairs, when all of a sudden I heard what sounded like a hoard of people attacking my ship and each-other. Kinda figured that I ought to come take a look at what the heck was going on. I'd ask how _you_ got here, but I'm guessing teleportation after that little trick of yours?"

"Oh, yeah, uh, sorry. I thought no-one would be out in the ship graveyard, I didn't know this ship was claimed by somebody. Sorry." I feel a bit sheepish now, I probably had given this guy a heart attack. Maybe he lived here? Hmm, but he didn't answer my question about how he got here, possibly on purpose. Still, I'm the one in the wrong here, not him. I should be less angry, even if he caught me at a bad time.

"So, kid, please tell me that your little, uh, _'frustration release exercise'_ , didn't involve any light-shows or big displays that might make people come out here and investigate this ship?"

Oh, he's worried that I'll lead someone to his gym? It's a reasonable question to ask, he must be keeping a low profile as a cape since I don't immediately recognize him. Of course, him being in workout clothing instead of a costume might be disguising the fact that he could actually be well-known.

"No, I was just yelling and kicking things. Nothing that would let people find you and your ship. Uh, what were you going to do with that sword?" I eye it suspiciously, then realize that once again, my helmet means no visible facial expressions. I'm really starting to dislike this thing.

He glances at the sword surprised, as if he had already forgotten about it. "Oh, well... probably try to stab anything that attacked me. Or run away. Depends on what I found."

He lets out a deep rumbling laugh and shrugs, then deliberately puts the sword on the ground beside him. "That help? Sorry for the pointy welcome, but it never hurts to be careful these days."

I shrug, as he has a point, "That's ok..."

I decide to get a bit bolder, curiosity overcoming my embarrassment and frustration. "So... You workout on a derelict ship in the middle of a boat graveyard huh? Seems to be working pretty well for you, or are those muscles from your power?"

"Nope, all pure hard work right here. I actually have a pretty sweet gym setup down here, it's gonna be a pain to have to move it all." He sighs with disappointment.

"Wait, why do you have to move it?"

"Duh kid, you know where I am, where it is. Unless you want to team up and start working out with me, I'd rather move it to a fallback position." He says half sarcastically.

I feel a bit dumb now, it's my fault he has to move things and I didn't even realize it despite having an extra self up. He's been rather reasonable so far about having a random cape invade his life. "Crap, sorry. I don't suppose it would help if I promised not to tell anyone? We could let you use the excuse that I don't want you to tell anyone about my tantrum? Prime blackmail material right there."

I am only half joking, knowing in my heart that unless he turns out to be a seriously nasty cape with a kill-order on him, I don't intend to reveal his location to anyone else. It's just a secret gym, hardly a den of evil. Plus it feels like it would be a bit too close to revealing his civilian identity.

From the online research I've done while in super-study mode, I've come to the conclusion that secret identities don't actually get revealed that often, despite the abundance of capes out there who could easily figure out who people are behind a mask.

I figure that there must be something holding them back from it, likely because if one cape gets their identity revealed, they have no reason to hold back anymore from revealing secrets they might know. I suppose it's lucky that I have a way to boost my ability to think, I don't think I've have noticed the subtleties and odd coincidences surrounding this unspoken cape stuff otherwise.

He seems to study me for a bit, then nods. "Yeah, ok. I don't want to have to move shit around, and your tantrum was pretty revealing. Got problems with the PRT huh? I know _exactly_ how it feels to have them screw you over."

Huh, he sounds really sympathetic when he says that. Of course it also means he probably is not a hero, you have to be on the PRT's good side to be an independent hero. So... I might be talking to a villain. And to think that this day had started out so well...

He continues with another shrug, "If you want to talk about it, we can share stories about how crappy they can be. But it's cool if you don't, tis a touchy subject. Since you _do_ know about this place now, if you want to use the equipment you can I guess. It won't hurt it. Just uh, knock before coming down so I have time to get my mask on if I'm here, ok?"

Wow. For a possible villain, this guy is pretty chill. Very much a live and let live type. But I actually could use a secret gym, so surprisingly enough I kinda want to take him up on his offer. It's not like I'm going to be helping him commit any crimes. It's just exercise, I justify to myself, knowing that there will be a catch, that it won't work out anyways.

"I uh, don't really now how to use stuff like that, what do I do if I break anything? How do I even use the equipment?" I'm still curious about this guy and want to at least find out his cape name before I go, asking him more questions seems to be a good way to get him talking.

He nods at me approvingly, "I'll show you the basics right now if you have time. Uh, I feel odd calling you kid all the time, you aren't _that_ much younger than me. Makes me feel like I'm suddenly old. You have a cape name?"

"Not yet," I grumble. "I'm having trouble picking something I like."

"Well, I know it's taken, but I'll call ya Ash for now, unless you have objections? It's cus of that beautiful ash dissolve thing your duplicates did back there, looked like a dream almost."

"Sure, it beats kid." I tentatively follow him down the stairway, looking back occasionally to secretly send out a self to a safe position in view. I still don't quite trust this guy and now would be a good time to ambush me.

Once I go down the stairs halfway, I can see that the level below is a wide open space created by cutting down some of the metal walls, filled with exercise equipment and actual working lights strung up along the ceiling, wires leading off to somewhere in the dark.

"Light switch is here. Make sure to turn it off when you are done, cus the solar panels are crappy and only store so much power for the lights. Don't want to drain them by leaving it on overnight. Nothing else in here is electronic so no fancy exercise bike that beeps at you I'm afraid."

He's right about that. Looking around it all seems like stuff built by hand, with only a few professional looking things that you'd expect to find in a gym. There is a bike that has been bolted to a heavy metal frame, lifting it off its wheels and doing something to the gear chain. Pulleys, ropes, and metal bars with heavy things attached to the ends are scattered about. It looks daunting, but also kinda sad and homemade. I decide that even if this guy is a villain, it can't be for one of the big nasty gangs like the ABB, Merchants or E88. They would have much better stuff for one of their capes to use.

I stop making selves behind me as he starts to talk about the equipment, since I can't see up the stairs anymore. I start putting them inside the room instead. Mostly positioned around the room at random. He starts to explain how to use everything, but hesitates a bit when he sees the first set of selves. But since I don't do anything with them, he seems to accept that it's just a thing that I'm going to be doing, and moves on.

I keep bouncing around the room, making selves, always keeping track of which one is the last self made. It could prove important if I have to suddenly run or something, and I don't want to let him get a good idea of how my power works. He already knows I can teleport and make more of myself from my panicked reaction up on deck, but no reason to let more slip unless needed. Although I can see that keeping the true extent of my powers secret is going to be much harder than I thought it would be, when I first came up with the plan. Might have to revise my plans a bit.

I relax after a few minutes. It's nice that he isn't demanding anything from me, no power explanations, not why I'm so pissed off at the PRT. The offer to listen is there, and the offer to help has been made, but he is just letting it hang there, moving on to other things.

It reminds me a bit of my dad, the unspoken implications, the hesitancy to push. He likes cracking jokes, mostly wordplay stuff. He's pretty clever with it and I try to keep up, slinging them back at him. It's kinda fun.

It's interesting to note that every bit of equipment that uses weights, has very low starting weights set aside in a neat row of increasing weight, covered in dust. Since even the weights seem mostly homemade from random lumps of metal melted down into shapeless blobs, it means that he made them at some point and was once just as weak as me. Obviously since I'm not a guy I will never get that massive, but at least I know the equipment works despite its appearance.

This guy seems to know all the techniques, sounding like an expert as he takes me from one machine to the next. It's taking long enough that I drop down to only having two selves up since I don't want to exhaust myself and be unable to get home. Still, I should be able to remember most of it, if I come back. Not too sure if I will, but it's not like I have many options right now. Still waiting for the catch however.

Once he is done explaining everything he seems to come to a decision, his body posture changing to be less sure of himself. "Hey, so I do have to admit, there might be a teeny bit of an ulterior motive here."

Great, I knew it. Now is when he asks me to commit crimes with him.

"So Ash, your power looks kinda cool, very useful for a project that me and a buddy are working on. Having a bunch of duplicates running around would simplify things a lot. I also happened to notice that your costume looks a bit... homemade. Simple. Lacking in some frills if you will."

Here it comes, the pitch I'll have to turn down, making me burn another bridge. Why couldn't he have just stuck to being the friendly anonymous workout buddy? I could have done that, despite my suspicions of him. It was kinda nice to actually talk and banter with another person for once. Plus it was way less stressful than trying to talk to the Wards, since it was just me and him, no crowd. Not to mention that he seems much more wary of me, than I am of him. Probably lacked a good power for fleeing trouble or fighting, if that sword was the best thing he had.

"So uh, this has no bearing on you being able to use the gym, you can always come back as long as you don't nark. But if you don't mind being on camera and letting me beat up some of your duplicates, then I can get you a much better costume, something way safer than a leather jacket and jeans."

Wait, what? He just wants to beat up my duplicates, on camera? Huh? I was prepared for most things, but not for a task that seems completely legal and harmless. I decide to express this confusion in a very coherent manner.

"Huh?"

He lets out another rich, rumbling chuckle, "Ok, so we need a bunch of ninjas to beat up for a short movie, I figure if we dress you up like one, then have you popping in duplicates like crazy, I can cut em down, beat them up, and so on. We can do some editing tricks to make sure that the ash dissolve is never visible, so that if you later want to go do stuff with some cape team, you can pretend you never helped us since it might ruin your reputation."

Reputation? So he's definitely got an unsavory reputation then, villain for sure. Although I'm not sure why a villain would want to make a short movie about ninjas, so the sheer oddity of the idea keeps me here, listening and not running away.

"This will be way cheaper and easier than hiring random extras, plus going out to fight ABB gang members won't work since they don't wear ninja outfits, and they _definitely_ don't take direction very well. Costumes are pretty easy for us to provide, so it's a good trade from what I can see. Unless something bad happens to you if a duplicate is hurt or killed?"

"Wait, so you just want to film yourself fighting ninjas? And I'll get a real, actual, professionally made costume somehow? No offense but you don't look like you can get your hands on good costumes easily." I say eyeing him up and down.

"Oh, you don't know who I am. I get it. I guess I am kinda out of costume right now." He holds out his hand for a handshake, "Yo Ash, I'm the amazing Uber!" He proclaims this with a very dramatic tone, one that had been absent from our interactions so far. But he turns it off almost right after, with a simple, "Pleasure to meet you."

As I try to process this, Uber explains, "Leet and I have a costume making machine, it's one of the first things he ever built. Makes everything from disposable one use outfits, to really nice high quality custom items that are lined with some special, secret Tinker fabric. It is all still fibers of course, so nothing we make will ever be as good as proper Tinker armor like Kid Win, Gallant, or Armsmaster have. But it's the best cloth based stuff you can probably get. How else do you think we managed to have a costume for every occasion, for every show?"

I hastily re-arrange my thoughts, cascading out to a full four selves. Uber, and Leet. Jokes. Villains.  
They had a webpage that streamed their costumed activities. Lots of clips found there way to YouTube as well. I could admit I had watched the show myself a couple of times. They had this little flying camera that I thought of as the 'snitch' that recorded everything they did in costume. I briefly check to make sure that it isn't here now, but the coast looks clear.

Each time I'd tuned in, I had been surprised to see there were thousands of viewers. I'd stopped because it wasn't feel-good watching. They were real underdogs, struggling to succeed, which made you feel sorry for them, made you want to root for them, until they did something despicable. Then you found yourself looking at them in a negative light, looking down on them, cheering whenever they failed. It felt a little too much like I'd been looking at them in the same way Emma, Madison and Sophia looked at me, and that had been a major turn-off.

Their entire shtick was a video game theme. With every escapade, they picked a different video game or series, designing their costumes and crimes around it. One day it would be Leet in a Mario costume throwing fireballs while Uber was dressed up as Bowser, the two of them breaking into a mint to collect 'coins'. Then a week later, they would have a Grand Theft Auto theme and they would be driving through the city in a souped up car, leading the cops and PRT on a wild chase.

Uber was an expert at anything he wanted to be. No doubt that was why he had seemed like such an expert at workout techniques, it was his power. It meant that if he had thought I was a threat up there, he would have gone from dorky weightlifter holding a sword clumsily, to an expert in sword fighting. It wasn't much of a power compared to stopping time or altering the fabric of reality, but he was an incredibly versatile cape within normal human limits.

Leet could make _anything_. He was a Tinker and normally would be hounded by offers and threats till he joined up with a hero or villain team, but his power had a major drawback. If he built something too similar to something he had already made, it had a high chance of failing. It was a drawback that was obvious enough in all the videos where something had failed. No cape would easily trust something he built, making him immune to the normal power plays that occurred around Tinkers. Explosions were common, and Uber probably only survived some of the mishaps due to incredible luck, or possibly the really tough costumes he had mentioned.

All of this meant that it was a legitimate offer, that they probably did have a real use for me as nothing more than an expendable extra for a show. It was probably not going to be one of their live stream shows since he had mentioned editing, but they did do the occasional mini movie centered around a specific video game character.

The problem was that they were villains, laughingstocks. While mostly harmless, they still did some bad things on occasion. I deliberately don't take Uber's hand, there is no way I'm shaking it. I can't support the kinds of stuff he's done, will do in the future.

I want to know why someone can think that it's ok to rob banks, to attack random civilians, and destroy stuff just for fun. I want to make things better in this city, to help get rid of the gangs, not cause mayhem.

So I cross my arms and ask him angrily, challenging him, "How can you justify doing some of the horrible things you do? How can you live with yourself? I mean sure, some of your shows, your antics, are harmless. Some even help people, like that time you guys went around as RoboCops and stopped crime for a day. But most of the time it's just stealing things and fighting people. You've even killed people! There is no way that I'm helping you two do _anything_."

He seems to shrink in on himself a bit, withdrawing his hand, posture no longer perfect. "Look, you don't understand, we don't have a _choice_. We never wanted to hurt anyone, let alone kill!" His impassioned plea is so heartfelt that I decide to let him try to explain before leaving. The guy I met today doesn't match the guy I've seen online, I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet.

"Look, at first we were going to be rogues, independent. We wanted to have fun showing off video game stuff, make some money, and not worry about fighting crime. We kinda thought that we might become heroes one day, if we got bored of the video game thing. Leet had just gotten his power and was making all sorts of stuff, trying to figure out what his specialty was."

Taking a moment to gather himself, he sits on the bike seat, looking down at his feet as he talks. His voice is mesmerizing, like all the best story tellers. I want to be angry at this use of his power, but it's just a voice trick. A pretty harmless one, given that I can see through it easily. Possibly it's subconscious. Either way, having multiple selves up for this conversation should let me see through any bullshit.

"That was the problem in the end. By the time we figured it out, it was too late. Whole swaths of possible future inventions were now too risky, they would probably backfire. We had first done tons of robotics, hard light projections, and even some bio tinkering, all in the name of video games. We made robot minions to fight in choreographed scenes, stuff to project backgrounds and objects, even pets. Chocobos and Pokemon mostly. Sold em off to the highest bidder, cus at the time we figured we could make more easily."

He shrugs as his hands make a throwing away gesture, "Then failures started to happen. And by the time we figured it out, someone had died in a backlash. We never, _ever_ meant for that to happen."

He looks at one of my selves, a haunted look in his eyes, tension in every muscle. I believe him, that he didn't want anyone to die. Whatever else I think of him, I can't think of him as a cold-blooded murderer.

"But the PRT didn't care. They had already been pissed off that Leet kept turning down offers to join. So when someone died, they called us villains. They said we were no longer rogues, and that if we didn't join up that instant, we would be thrown in jail. I looked into it, put on my researcher hat, and found out that if we joined now that the accident had occurred, we'd be probationary members of the Protectorate for years. Subject to even more rules and red-tape than the normal guys are. We'd be relocated, separated, and chances were that we'd have to do horrible jobs like patrol Simurgh exclusion zones forever."

I can't help but shudder at that thought. Any place that the Simurgh had touched, had warped, I wouldn't want to hang around it for long either.

"We talked about it for days, arguing every possible angle. In the end we decided that we were best friends, and there was no way we would let ourselves get separated, not for a crap job like that. We went to jail at first, we figured we deserved it for the accident. Given how overcrowded jails are these days, we figured we'd be out in a year or less on good behavior."

I interrupt, shocked, "Wait, you guys actually went to jail? Willingly?"

"Yup. Its all public record if you want to go check too. But it didn't go so well. We don't know if that was on purpose or not, but Leet had a hard time with it. Apparently something in Tinkers drives them to keep on inventing, innovating. He was not allowed to in prison, despite the fact that they really should have allowed for it, they knew full well how Tinkers worked. I know _other_ Tinkers in other prisons get workshop time, then have the invention taken away at the end of it. So when Leet innovated some small harmless thing, it would get found, confiscated, and he'd get another mark on his record. Then they'd remind him that he could Tinker all he wanted in the PRT."

"That's actually pretty cruel then, just the sort of underhanded trick I'd expect from them, now that I know how they _really_ are."

"Yeah, they'll do anything to recruit people. I had to keep getting into fights to protect Leet, since he's a bit of an asshole when stressed, and very out of shape. Was completely unable to function in there. It was getting bad, so I broke us out. He'd have been killed by someone he pissed off if we hadn't, or else he would have killed himself with a backlash, or in some _other_ way."

He sighs and looks down again, rubbing his forehead briefly with his hand, then getting up to pace around.

"So after that, we were villains no matter what we did. Most our money had been confiscated or stolen by looters, we had almost no inventions left save for what we had hidden really, really well. So yes, we started to commit crimes. We had to take mercenary jobs to get money and supplies. We robbed places that we knew could easily take it, like banks and mints. We did our usual shows for subscribers, for the ad revenue."

I frown behind my helmet, but I don't interrupt. I already knew they went down a darker path after breaking out of jail for the first time.

"Heck, just to make sure that people would stop bugging us about Leet joining them, we even leaked his big weakness and made sure to have plenty of live videos with explosions and backfires just to drive the point home. We deliberately turned ourselves into jokes to protect ourselves. And it sucks every time we get laughed at, called names, or ignored."

His fists clench unconsciously, tension in his shoulders and arms as he continues pacing.

"We try not to hurt people, but it gets harder and harder to do that these days. It just seems to be getting out of control. The backfires get worse no matter how careful we are. So yeah, right now we are just trying to keep our heads above water. To build up resources so that Leet can make stuff, to pay our bills, and be able to afford to eat."

He gets a fierce look in his eyes, fist hitting his leg. "So yeah, we suck. We are scum. Judge us without being in our shoes, go ahead. But most of the jobs where we wreck shit, it's because we are paid to go be a distraction, or to destroy some gangs drug den that's disguised as a house. We try to only take jobs that will hurt the other gangs, like that one time we stole one of Squealers cars and went for a mad ride through the city, GTA style. E88 paid us to do that, and since the Merchants suck, I was more than happy to do it."

He stops pacing to face my newest self, gesturing for emphasis, voice softening. "But if you help us, then we don't have to go cause mayhem or rob somebody next month. We can get money from the ads, from donations, and subscribers. It's safe, easy, fun, and there is no possibility of someone getting hurt. I don't like being a bad guy. I want to change things Ash, but it's hard."

I can feel my resolve softening already. He does sound like he's trapped by circumstances, and I know exactly what that feels like.

"You probably wanted to be a hero, it's kinda obvious from that justified denouncement of us. You even have angel wings and a halo on you Ash. But I found you sobbing out your pain, yelling about the PRT being corrupt. They probably crushed your dreams, same as they crushed ours. If you help, you will be giving me and Leet a second chance. I can promise that we'll _never_ force you to help us commit a crime."

He finally stops and just looks at one of my selves with his cold blue eyes, the only part of his face I can see. I can't read his emotions right now, his entire body is so still.

I have to think about this, it's a lot to take in all at once. His speech, rant, or whatever it was, is over. He is now just waiting patiently, letting me process.

I was cascaded out to four selves the entire time. As far as I could tell, he didn't lie. Obscured some things, found better ways to word other parts, omitted a few key things that I'll want to know more about at some point, but no actual lies. I'm not a master at reading body language, but I'd put my new observational powers up against Uber's possible 'expert liar' ability any day.

But I think that he wasn't trying to lie. He was trying to persuade me. He only can be expert at one thing at a time as far as I know, so I think he was just trying to get me to empathize with him, to convince me that he's not a villain. Despite the fact that I know what his is trying to do, it's still working.

To connect with me like that, he has to open himself up, that part can't be faked. To have it be so soon after my own experience of disappointment? My own reminder of how crappy life can be sometimes? Yeah, I can empathize.

It's noble of him to be sticking by his friend like that, even though it sounds like Leet and his power is the cause of most of their problems. A friend like that is rare. I used to think I had one who would be there for me no matter what.

Emma...

It turned out I was wrong about her, she turned on me for no reason that I ever found. But Uber went to prison for his friends mistake, then broke him out of it when his friend would have died in there. (If that part wasn't exaggerated a bit, I suspect it was.)

I know exactly how hard it is to not have money, resources, to have to accept a crummy deal since it is the best you will get. My bullies should have gotten punished, possibly sent to juvie or jail. But I took the deal that paid my medical bills. I felt shame and regret immediately, but I still did it. I still really wish I had a way to get money, to help my dad. He hides it well, but the bills are slowly piling up.

There is no excuse for some of the stuff that they have done, but denying him now would just drive them to commit more crimes. If I help with this harmless movie, I can try to maybe steer them away from crime, towards helping people. It's odd to think that two grown men might need my help, might want it. To think that I might be able to.

I am having a hard time deciding, but then I remember Sophia and how she just dismissed me and my powers. She assumed I was useless, told me to go home, be a delivery boy.

My powers have drawbacks, and so does Leet's. Uber's aren't that great either. We all got the short end of the power stick. If they had tried to make the best of it only to have this happen to them, what did that say about my possible future? I might never be great myself, I'm no Alexandria, Eidolon or Legend. But if I could help others to be heroes, then that counted as part of my contribution to society too, right?

I send a new self forward, holding out my hand. Uber blinks, then reaches out to grab it gently, shaking it twice in the quick, professional way that business men do it. The old selves dissolve and I take my hand back from his. "I don't actually know what happens if an afterimage dies. I'll want to test that before I let you dress me up as a ninja and start attacking me."

He looks worried at that, "Oh, crap. You're right, you'll have to test that then, I don't want to accidentally hurt you."

He pauses his worried musing to remark, "Afterimages huh? I like it, tis poetic."

Then he gets more serious and asks hesitantly, "Ok, do you want to test the dying thing yourself, or do you want help? I'm pretty sure that if anything goes wrong I can put on my medial expert hat and keep you alive, as long as it's not _too_ bad. But uh, more info on how they work would be nice, if you do want my help."

I think about it with all my selves, but I'm getting pretty tired from all the cascading. Unless I want to try killing a self in a hospital, this is probably the closest I'll get to being near a qualified medical professional while power testing.

Plus it will solve that whole, 'unable to kill myself fast enough' problem I've been having when I did try it on my own. Falling off a building is not sufficient, it just broke my back, and I've yet to be able to work up the nerve to stab myself in the heart.

I nod at him with the newest self, now over by a pull-up rack. "Ok, so basically I teleport, and can choose to leave an afterimage behind. It lasts for a few seconds and does pre-programmed stuff, or continues doing what I was about to do."

I then make a quick port to show that I don't have to leave a self behind.

"If an afterimage gets hurt, the injuries don't get transferred to me. They only last for a few seconds, so I don't know if it's possible to actually fully kill one in that time. I know even beheading is rumored to leave the brain alive for a minute after. I don't know what the point of 'death' is for one of them. If it will make it turn to ash early, or leave a body behind. So, think you can kill me instantly?"

I ask him half teasing, half challenging. It's one of the reason why I have yet to try this experiment myself. The lack of good ways to kill myself instantly is a bit of a pain, and I already know what happens when I merely get hurt. I don't like getting hurt, so I've been avoiding testing this too much.

He seems to think about it for a second, then nods at me seriously. "I can do it, but I better go get that sword back from upstairs." To save time, I quickly port a few times to get up there, then port back down with the weapon. It's surprisingly sleek and sharp, made for use, not for show.

He looks at it and shakes his head, "I can't believe that we are talking about killing you. Are you sure it's ok? Cus I don't think I've ever personally killed anyone before, afterimage or not. Lots of robots and hard light illusions, even a few bio-monsters we made long ago, but no actual people."

His hesitance just reassures me more, and I hand over the sword. "I have to find out sooner or later. What if I try to go to an Endbringer fight, only to find out that an afterimage dying does something unexpected like explode into a fireball? I could kill someone by accident."

"Oh, and accidentally killing me with a fireball is ok then?" He sarcastically remarks.

He sighs, "Well, it's not like I'm not used to it by now... Ok, so I'm thinking that I'll go up through the bottom of your jaw, avoiding the helmet, right into the brain. That is about as instant as I can get it, given the lack of disintegration rays at my disposal. Also, this is definitely going into my top ten creepiest conversations, _ever_. So congratulations I guess?"

Then he pauses again, and starts walking to the stairs.

"We should do this on deck actually, so that if there _is_ an explosion of some kind, it will just blow me into the water, where you can then presumably rescue me if you have also survived."

"Oh come on, there isn't going to be an explosion. That was just a random example."

"Ash, when you have lived through as many explosions as I have, you learn to _always_ expect explosions."

As I follow him up to the deck, I wonder about Uber and how he got to be like this. He is so laid back and chill, but also terribly pessimistic sometimes. It's an odd combination. My guess is he probably started out laid back, then got more negative over time as life screwed him over.

"Ok, so you stand here. I'll hold this right below your head, you'll have to slip it in till it's positioned just right, and wow... That sounded kinda wrong there. _Way_ too sexual, especially since you sound like you are well below eighteen. Forget I ever said that sentence. _Please._ I do _not_ need a reputation as a pedophile."

He can't help but start laughing, after I break out into a fit of laughter myself. It's quite contagious and ends up going on for a while.

After a pause to stop laughing, we start trying to position ourselves again, only to start up again, laughing too much to be able to hold still. It ends up taking a full ten minutes before we get the damn sword under my helmet and below my jaw. I blame the stress. Clearly all of it is finally catching up to me.

"Ok, as soon as I say go, you teleport away. Once I see that you have safely made it, I'll strike. Ready?"

"Ready." I reply, suddenly nervous about this. Somehow I've ended up trusting a villain to hold a sword to my throat and not kill me, at least not until I'm ready. Have I gone crazy? I must have. Finding out Sophia is Shadow Stalker, it clearly broke my mind. And I'm only becoming sane now, when it's too late.

"Go!" He calls out.

I panic and cascade a self away, hoping that he really will wait for there to be another me before he strikes.

I can see him slide the sword up, one arm over my shoulder to keep me from moving. I can _feel_ the sword go up through my jaw, my tongue, the top of my mouth. It hurts, but then it stops hurting. I die, but I also live.

It is the most incredibly strange, and strangely incredible thing I've ever experienced in my life.

Scintillating, that's a possible word for it.

Mercurial.

Transparent.

Light.

It washes away the pain of the death, makes it poetic. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

I never thought I'd be the kind of person who sought out pain and death, but this actually isn't unpleasant. It is over in an instant, but the echoes of the death last for as long as that self would have normally lasted. It's not distracting, I can still notice the rest of the world with no problems. However I can see no reason not to stand still, close my eyes, and explore every bit of this odd experience, this odd feeling.

I suppose I must have worried Uber because he is there taking my wrist, pushing up my sleeve, and checking my pulse after four seconds of me just standing there. A few moments later the last of the death echoes fade away, and I gently pull my wrist away. "It is ok, I am alright. It was just very... odd."

"Are you sure? You just shuddered, then stood there very still."

"Sorry. It was not unpleasant at all, just, odd. And hey, at least I didn't explode!" I feel strange now, even after the echoes are gone. I'll have to figure this out, since it seems to linger, to make sure it's not impairing me.

"We have to try that again, I want to test something." I grab the sword from where it has fallen. It has no blood stains on it, they disappeared along with my body. It had stayed behind for the full five seconds despite being dead and inert, but I know I could have dissolved it sooner. However I have my suspicions that the death echo feeling will go away if the body does.

I re-position the sword, and Uber gets ready to kill me again. This must be a strange day for him. I know it is for me.

"Go." This time I cascade out fully, making all four selves.

He kills me again, the exact same way as before. He probably is using some type of 'expert stabber' part of his power.

I take a long look at my dead body. It is so strange to see myself lying there, blood seeping from my helmet, sword handle coming from the bottom of it. Uber has thoughtfully lowered it to the ground instead of just dropping it. A kind touch. I feel less impacted by the echoes this time. Whether it is because I have three living selves this time, or that I am simply more used to the effect, will remain unknown for now. No way to test that easily right now, nor does it matter much.

I know that my body still counts as one of my four selves, that I'll have to get rid of it to make another. But I am again surprisingly close to being able to make a fifth self. Perhaps being close to death is another key, along with anger? But I feel as far from anger as possible right now. More aware of the world, more philosophical perhaps, but much less angry than I was when I first started to talk to Uber.

I practice doing a few cascades, then deliberately dismiss my dead body early. As I thought, the echoes fade when my body does. I experimentally have a quick teleport over to the sword, grab it, then make a second self elsewhere. The self 'left behind' and pretending to be an afterimage stabs itself in the leg.

Hmm, as I thought, much less pain than expected. I think that dying has made me less able to feel pain. Perhaps something about my power knows that I need to be able to feel less pain when I've died recently?

Uber is looking a bit alarmed at this point, I should probably reassure him. He has proven trustworthy so far, much to my surprise. Despite his distasteful background, he could be a good ally in the future if he is serious about changing. "I'm fine. Just testing stuff."

"Right. Uh, you sure you are ok? It's a bit worrying when some dude stabs himself with a sword like that, even if it is just an afterimage..."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Relax Uber. It means I'm going to be able to help you do this ninja video thing, preventing you from having to commit crimes for the next while. And now I know what happens when I die." I hastily correct myself. "Or at least when an afterimage dies."

"Alright then. Uh, I'm gonna go back to working out then, unless you want to die again? God that sounds odd when I say it. Anyways, we can meet back here tomorrow so I can introduce you to Leet, if you want. Any particular time you like? Leet's a bit of a night owl, so nights are good for us."

"Nights are a no for me. How about around the middle of the day? Noon?"

"Yeah, noon works. I'll have to get that lazy-ass up early, but he'll come for the promise of endless waves of ninjas."

"Right then, ninja fight tomorrow. And you two can't commit any crimes while I'm helping you or else no more endless minions. I'm serious about this!" I tell him sternly.

"Sir, yes sir!" He snaps off a crisp, perfect salute. Laughing, he goes back down the stairs, leaving me on the deck of the ship.

You know, it's rather beautiful out today. I notice that the sunlight is scintillating and bouncing off the waves as I gaze out at the water, looking for a good spot to teleport to. My tears have long dried beneath my helmet, forgotten as I move forward. It's important to always keep going, no matter what mistakes you might make.

* * *

AN: Don't forget to review! Reviews are the fuel I consume to power my writing muscles! They also point out mistakes, and ask good questions that I really ought to have the answers to.

Anyways, I know some of you won't like the direction I'm taking this in, but I needed some other underdogs for her to team up with, and it couldn't be the Undersiders for secret plot reasons. It couldn't be the Wards or any hero group like New Wave, both for Sophia related reasons, and for dramatics. It's no fun if Taylor doesn't have everyone out to get her. And obviously her moral code is too strong to join the Merchants, ABB or E88.

Also, I might be rushing it a bit, her trusting Uber like this, but to be fair, she has this odd four body thing going on. Her emotions and mind are not exactly working the same way most peoples do. Lets just pretend its her Shard pushing her into it shall we?

Plus she was at an emotionally vulnerable moment when she met him, Uber is able to be very persuasive when he wants to be, and she hasn't had a friend in a very long time. I figure its legit, and even edited it a bit to show off more personal interactions between them.

Anyways, I knew that Uber and Leet had managed to survive up to at least the attack by Noelle in the original story, so they were nice, scrappy losers who refused to die, like Taylor! Plus it saves me from creating OC's. I'm really hesitant to do that.

Also, I hasten to reassure you all that I did read the WoG posts by Wildbow about how everyone overestimates Uber and Leet's usefulness, or makes their powers out to be better than they. I will do my best to not fall into that trap, keeping them firmly in the 'this kinda sucks' category. The point of this story is not to have Leet build something magical, just because Taylor told him to.

She will have precisely _one_ good idea about his power, and that's it. One slightly useful suggestion. Otherwise it's all about leveraging what they already have or can do.

EDIT: One reviewer pointed out that Taylor was perhaps being a little _too_ forthcoming with her powers specifics, so hopefully my recent edits clarify that she's trying to keep the stuff on the down low. Got rid of the pain stuff and the accidental vision-limitation reveal. Thanks for that **Sleptic**!


	9. Stamp 1-9

It was tricky to sneak out today. Dad wanted to spend the day with me, and I had to find a way to blow him off.

"Sorry dad, not really feeling like going to the mall."

"Ok, how about the park? Or zoo? I don't really care where we go, but it's been a while since we just 'hanged out'. I know I've been busy lately, but I have the weekend off and nothing planned save for spending time with my poor, neglected little girl."

"Daaaaaaad..." Cue obligatory embarrassment.

"Oh, and I picked up some cheap Valentines candy a few days ago, just for bribing purposes. Here." He hands me a couple boxes of assorted chocolates. Man, it's getting harder to say no, now that I'm being showered with tasty chocolate treats. Curse his clever, fiendish plan!

Actually, that's a good line, I should use it. "Curse your clever, fiendish plan! How did you ever guess my weakness? Curse you Doctor Dad! You will never take me alive!"

"Muahahahaa, I knew you would be no match for my evil treats!" He says in a super low, raspy voice.

"Hey, I thought I was the villain and you the good guy?"

"We can BOTH be villains! Trying to out-evil each other. Muahahahahaa..." He starts to cough harshly. "Oh man, I can't do that anymore. Lowering my voice like that hurts like the dickens!"

I can't help but collapse on the couch giggling, as Dad wanders off to grab a glass of water. By the time he comes back, I've already inspected the contents of the boxes and sampled a few.

"Oh, how about this plan? I go wander about for a bit, do some jogging, hit the library like I'd planned, finish up some stuff I have going on. Then we go out tonight? Maybe for dinner or just walking along boardwalk, taking in the ocean view and maybe grab some food from a food truck or stall down there? We can window shop and people watch."

I watch to see his reaction. Hopefully the fact that I'm not asking for anything too expensive means he is willing to abandon the idea of spending the day with me, and just do an evening thing. If I can get him into that habit, it will save me some grief and trying to adjust things later when I'm more active as a hero. My powers meant that I'd be better off as an afternoon cape anyways, given the lack of night-vision. All the really dangerous areas tend to not have any working streetlights, so unless I can get Leet to make me something like Kid Win's visor, best to establish the pattern early.

He looks hesitant for a bit, but then nods. "Ok, I'll leave you to your evil plots and plans then. We can go out around six pm, that work for you?"

"Yes, I think that leaves me ample time for evil scheming. And eating this tasty evil candy."

"Hey, don't eat it all at once! Save some room for actual food."

"Muahahahaa, silly Doctor Dad... I'm evil, of course I'm going to eat all the candy!" I stuff two into my mouth just to emphasize the point.

"Curses! Whelp, I'm gonna go do some overdue paperwork. Might as well get a start on it. Have fun kiddo."

"Mruphmurf!"

Phew, problem solved. Now to make my escape!

* * *

I'm in costume and at the secret workout-ship. It's noon, and I'm ready to meet Leet for the first time. I knock loudly on the railing, then walk down. I see Uber right away, wearing some kind of ninja costume and holding a katana. (Or something like that. It's a long, slightly curved Japanese sword of some kind. I'm calling it a katana for now.)

He has a black solid mesh bodysuit that leaves his arms bare, showing off all his muscles. It's got some sections that look like a scaly kind of armor on his chest, along with lots of daggers strapped all over willy-nilly. There's a black scarf wrapped around his neck, one end dangling free. His helmet is more of that mesh stuff covering his lower face, ninja style of course, and then some kind of silvery metal thing covering his head. It looks like silvery claws around his face, then turns into swoopy lines sweeping back from his face, up over his head, to the back of his helmet.

"Nice, I'm glad you actually showed up again. Wasn't sure."

"So who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm wounded by your ignorance, you cannot even guess? Ninja Gaiden? Ryu Hayabusa?"

"Err, sorry, not much of a video gamer."

"Blasphemy!" He staggers back comically, holding his hand to his heart. "Ash, we are gonna have to have a video game marathon one day, just to teach you the finer points."

"Nah, I'll pass. So where is Leet?"

"Not here yet. I figured I'd give you time to get into costume."

He walks over to a bundle of clothes, with a flashlight on top.

"Here, this is fairly loose so it should fit easily even though I had to guess at the size. It's got a proper ninja mask, but you'll have to go helmet-less with that on. My costume is using the good fabric, but since yours is meant to be easily cut, it's just normal fibers. For actual filming we'll get you something a bit better fitting, but this is just a demo and to figure out the basics of how it's gonna work."

I grab the neatly folded bundle of grayish fabric.

"There is a flashlight on top in case you need light when you go find a private spot to put it on."

"Thanks. Did you guys really make that costume of yours in only a day?"

"Yup! Yours and Leet's too. Although to be fair, most of it was already pre-designed, it just needed to be made. Mine is pretty cut resistant too, as I'm sure you will find out later when you start trying to kill me."

I nod and port away, back up to the deck of the ship. I look around till I find another ruined ship in the distance that looks good, then port again. I quickly find a good hidey-hole and change. There's a simple grey bodysuit complete with attached, soft soled feet covers. It's all kinda loose on me, no doubt my disguise made Uber think I was a bit more beefy than I actually am. "Must be the shoulder pads..." I joke to myself.

I wrap the thicker Gi around me over the bodysuit, tying the belt on loosely as I don't want to emphasize my skinny waist any more than necessary. It's mostly white, but the borders are black, along with the belt. The mask is easy to put on, and I like that it blocks my vision less than the motorcycle helmet. Bit tricky getting all my hair under the head covering without it looking funny, but I manage after some fiddling. Black gloves complete the outfit.

I head back and find Uber on the deck of the ship, now holding two swords. "Hmm, much looser on you than I expected. Clearly eyeballing it didn't work too well, I'll have to get proper measurements from ya once we are done for the day. Oh, and here's your weapon, it's a wakizashi. Mine's called a katana."

Oh good, I was right about what his weapon was called. The other one has a pretty weird name though.

He holds it out to me, grasping the blade so that I can grab the handle. It looks more plain than his sword, shorter too. The edge looks much less sharp than his blade's edge.

I give it a few practice swings, it makes a nice noise cutting through the air. Uber immediately steps up and moves my hands around a bit. "There, that's the proper technique for holding it. Don't hold it too tightly, but not too loosely either."

I step back from him when he's done, uncomfortable with his kinda rude taking over like that.

"As yes, the expert at everything, I almost forgot. Anything else I should know?" I ask somewhat sarcastically.

"I'm not actually an expert at anything you know?" He replies annoyed. "It's a common misconception, but my power doesn't work like that."

He sighs and rubs his head, "But now I'm just taking it out on you, sorry. Anyways, there isn't much I can teach you in a few min. Basically I want you to hide. When Leet shows up, I'll do a bit of explanation, then I'll give you a signal. You pop down and try your best to hit me with the sword, I'll do my best to stop you. Don't worry too much about hitting me anywhere but my arms and face, as the costume can take the hits."

"Okay, whats the signal?"

"I will shout something like 'Behold, your minions are no match for me!' That's suitably dramatic I believe. Will you be ok with me attacking anything in my reach?"

"I think so, I'll make sure to pop in far from you, then leave an afterimage behind and go somewhere else. The afterimages will be the ones to get close to you, and as long as you stay in one spot it should be fine."

"Ok, then go hide. He should be here soon, I think I see him flying out."

I port away, and then look around from my hiding spot to see if I can spot Leet. In the distance a small figure standing on a platform of some kind is coming closer, using the derelict ships and abandoned shipping containers as cover from anyone on land who might be looking. He stands out noticeably against the water in his bright red robes, with a white mask of some kind on under the deep red hood. It's hard to make out much more detail from where I am, but I do notice that Leet seems to be pretty scrawny.

Leet eventually makes it to the ship and clumsily steps off his moving platform. It has a brick-like pattern spray painted on it, and I realize that it is probably one of those moving platforms in video games that move around slowly, and people are supposed to jump onto. It clearly has been re-purposed for the purpose of moving them around, no doubt because building something new would be too risky.

Leet seems to have very bad posture as he starts talking to Uber. It is such a contrast, seeing the two next to each-other. I can see why most of the time Uber takes the spotlight in the videos, Leet lacks any kind of impressiveness. Eventually Uber backs away from Leet, raises his weapon, and shouts in an incredibly dramatic and defiant way, "Your minions are no match for ME!"

Damn that man has a voice on him. There's my cue!

Quickly cascading down, I make self after self. I approach to swing my blades at him, starting out cautiously so as to not hurt him by accident.

This proves to be harder than I thought, as Uber quickly blocks the few strikes that would have gotten close, and lashes out with his blade. One self is suddenly headless, and another gets an incredibly painful gash along my arm, forcing me to drop my blade. Ow.

In other news, heads that lack a body are still totally aware of their surroundings. Finally, proof for that popular theory. Too bad I don't care right now.

Quickly I dismiss them to get rid of the distraction, ignoring the brief flash of pain along my arm and neck. The odd death echo effect from yesterday didn't linger for more than a few hours, but the pain surprisingly still isn't that much. I must be getting used to it.

Adrenalin makes my heart pump, and I get very focused. I'm gonna stop being nice now, clearly he is good enough to defend himself. Narrowing my eyes, I go at him again. Hard and fast, I try to score at least one hit on Uber.

I send one self up into the air to come at him from above, he won't be expecting that! Surrounding him, my selves move in to attack. Uber nimbly dodges my airborne self, and unfortunately once in the air, it's hard to change your course. Uber grabs me by the arm and throws me into my falling path, the two selves colliding and turning to ash. Better to just make new ones than try to sort them out in the few seconds they have left.

While this is happening, another self recklessly lunges forward, aiming to skewer him through his stomach. My blade is knocked aside by a gloved hand, and a kick to my face sends me reeling back.

Two new selves come in from opposite sides as I dissolve the one with a bleeding nose. A clang of blades as one is deflected, giving my other self an opening. I slash at his legs, keeping in mind that I don't want to hit his unarmored arms. Uber jumps over my blade and does a fancy flip over my head, using one hand to grab my head and give him a boost at the top of the arc. As he comes down, his blade hits my neck, not fully severing my head this time, but cutting it enough that I want to dismiss that self. But before he can react, another self is behind him and cutting at his armored chest.

A hit! I feel elated even as that self is gutted, entrails spilling out. Gross. Oh well, I got at least one hit on him, and man, this fight is incredible. I am so focused on fighting Uber and showing him that I'm not a pushover, that I don't even notice at first that I've gone up to five selves. It is hard to tell at first since I keep having to dismiss and remake more selves so fast, but there is a brief pause in the fighting when I finally hit Uber, and some red blood comes seeping out.

Concerned, I pull back, and notice that hey, there are five of me? Wow, I reached the next level of balance, I'm riding the biggest wave yet, and I was too focused on the fight to notice. Uber laughs and booms, "Don't worry, tis just fake blood under the top layer of armor. You haven't hurt me yet!"

The challenge spurs me onward. We'll see about that!

Four selves run in, while the fifth ports out to an upper deck for a better vantage point. Uber quickly cuts down a few selves with light gashes to arms and legs, using my numbers against me and making me get in my own way. You'd think that it would be harder to do that to me, but apparently I need to learn to coordinate with myself better.

Selves flash in and out, slowly getting better at teamwork, and at forcing Uber into positions that help me. I keep constantly rotating a self up to the upper deck every few seconds, to help me get a better idea of what is going on. I score a few more glancing hits on his body as time goes on, getting a bit better every time. My enhanced perceptions let me analyze the fight faster that I would have ever believed possible, letting me think logically about every move. I'm not just reacting on reflex.

I try the 'death from above' trick a few more times, getting better at using it but still not very effective. If I go too high up, I have more time to prepare to hit him, but can't steer myself or stop him from moving away unless my other selves can mange some trick to stop him. If I go too low, then I have no time to actually get ready for it. Falling is a bit disorientating after-all. Once I accidentally just landed on him like a rag-doll. Bashed my own ribs on his head, and accidentally bit my tongue off. Not fun, and it didn't even faze him. Darn stupidly strong people!

Eventually it all comes to an end around five min into the fight. "Hold, hold! Enough Ash!"

I stop rushing in to attack, and dwindle down to one self. Uber's arms have sweat all over them, and he is breathing heavily. Surprisingly, I'm a bit sweaty too. I might have been porting for most of it, but apparently I did manage to do enough physical activity there to matter.

"So what do you think Leet? Good enough for that movie?"

"Holy fuck that was awesome!"

Uber nods at Leet and walks over to a small blue cooler hidden in a corner. He pulls it open and rummages around. Tossing me an unopened bottle of water, he opens his own, pulls down the part of the mask covering his mouth, and starts to chug.

I barely manage to catch it, not having expected to get one myself. "Thanks." I twist the top off and turn away from them so they can't see my girlish lips and chin as I briefly pull down the ninja mask and take a sip. Aaahhhh, cool, refreshing, and possibly the best tasting thing in the world right now. I might not have exerted myself much physically, but using five selves in the fight for a full five minutes? That sure wasn't easy.

"How the fucking hell did you mange this Uber?" Leet sounds impressed. "I thought we didn't have the budget for hiring minions, let alone another cape!"

Uber just grins, "What? You mean you doubted me and my Uberness?"

"Har har, please tell me that this isn't Spree or Flashmob?" He looks at me, and while I can't see his face behind the smooth white mask, his body language is nervous? Defensive? I'd be nervous too if I thought I was anywhere near Spree. That cape was serious bad news. He was a member of the Teeth, a sadistic group of capes and normal people who liked to cause carnage and destruction on a grand scale.

"No, no, no, Ash here is actually more on the heroic side of things."

"Good, I could deal with Prism or someone like her, but the other two are a bit sketchy even for us."

Leet then starts to inspect me, looking me up and down. "So... What exactly did Uber promise you?"

"New costume, and that you two wouldn't do anything criminal for as long as I was working with you. Although I suppose if you wanted to go harass a cape from one of the gangs I wouldn't say no."

"Uberrrrrr... Really?" He groans dramatically.

"Hey, that's a cheap price and you know it! Where else are we gonna get legions of disposable minions that provide their own realistic gore effects? Plus no-one is hurt in the slightest at the end of the day. And you saw how he just got better at fighting as the battle went on! By the time we actually film this, he'll be fighting like a proper ninja."

"How did you even meet this guy? How do you even know he's safe to work with?" Leet complains.

"Dude, he's a new gym buddy, he's cool. And I met him out here actually, on this deck. He had to blow off some steam cus the PRT had done him wrong. Picked our ship to do it on."

"Of all the ships in the Bay, you had to pick ours huh?" Leet whines at me, posture slumping even more in defeat. Seems like he knows when he's beaten.

Man, this guy really is opposite of Uber, I don't know how he can stand it. "Look, do you want me to help you make a ninja movie or not?" I ask annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. You were pretty awesome at it, the guts spilling out was super cool. It's too bad it faded so fast."

"I'll work on that." I dryly respond, rolling my eyes.

Uber sees it and laughs. "Hey, want a sandwich? I got a bunch in here. I figure we eat, talk about the details, hash out a filming schedule, and so on?"

I nod, walk over, and start to rummage. Each sandwich is helpfully labeled with the contents, so I snag a turkey, swiss, mayo and lettuce on rye. Uber is incredibly well prepared, I can see that it's going to be easy to work with him. Little touches that I might have forgotten, like napkins, are tucked into a ziplock bag.

After eating my sandwich in privacy, I go back and see him pull out some folding chairs from a broken crate. I laugh, and port over to help set them up. This might actually be fun, plus learning how to fight will be incredibly useful for the future. It's almost like having friends again.

I think I made a good decision here. I had been agonizing over it all night and this morning, but being here, making jokes with Uber and even occasionally Leet? It feels right. It's nice.

* * *

AN: Fight scene! Be gentle my dear readers, for tis my first ever fight scene. I've never written one before, especially not one so confusing with a medley of duplicating selves.

And yes, Leet is gonna be a whiny little twit, but thankfully Taylor got enough of a bonding thing going with Uber to make her willing to put up with it. The way I see it, I'm having to condense the roles of the Undersiders down to only two characters.

Leet is Bitch and Regent. Annoying, a smart-ass, plus awkward social skills and tends to test limits, ect.

Uber is Grue and Tattletale. Leader-ish, confident, competent, insightful and plans far ahead, ect.

It's actually neat how it works out like that.


	10. Interlude 1 (Danny)

"We don't know how long he had been there. Suspended in the air above the Atlantic Ocean. On May twentieth, 1982, an ocean liner was crossing from Plymouth to Boston when a passenger spotted him. He was naked, his arms to his sides, his long hair blowing in the wind as he stood in the sky, nearly a hundred feet above the gently cresting waves. His skin and hair can only be described as a burnished gold. With neither body hair nor clothes to cover him, it is said, he seemed almost artificial.

After a discussion including passenger and crew, the liner detoured to get closer. It was a sunny day, and passengers crowded to the railings to get a better look. As if sharing their curiosity, the figure drew closer as well. His expression was unchanging, but witnesses at the scene reported that he appeared deeply sad.

'I thought he was going to crack his facade and cry any moment', said Grace Lands, 'But when I reached out and touched his fingertips, I was the one who burst into tears.'

'That boat trip was a final journey for me. I had cancer, and I wasn't brave enough to face it. Can't believe I'm admitting this in front of a camera, but I was going back to Boston, where I was born, to end things myself. After I met him, I changed my mind. Didn't matter anyways. I went to a doctor, and he said there was no sign I ever had the disease.'

'My brother, Andrew Hawke, was the last passenger to make any sort of contact with him, I remember. He climbed up onto the railing, and, almost falling off, he clasped the hand of the golden man. The rest of us had to grab onto him to keep him from falling. Whatever happened left him with a quiet awe. When the man with the golden skin flew away, my brother stayed silent. The rest of the way to Boston, my brother didn't say a word. When we docked, and the spell finally broke, my brother babbled his excitement to reporters like a child.'

The golden man would reappear several more times in the coming months and years. At some point, he donned clothing. At first, a sheet worn over one shoulder and pinned at either side of the waist, then more conventional clothes. In 1999, he donned the white bodysuit he still wears today. For more than a decade, we have wondered, where did our golden man get these things? Who was he in contact with?

Periodically at first, then with an increasing frequency, the golden man started to intervene in times of crisis. For events as small as a car accident, as great as natural disasters, he has arrived and used his abilities to save us. A flash of light to freeze water reinforcing a levee stressed by a hurricane. A terrorist act averted. A serial murderer caught. A volcano quelled. Miracles, it was said.

His pace increased, perhaps because he was still learning what he could do, perhaps because he was getting a greater sense of where he was needed. By the middle of the 1990s, he was traveling from crisis to crisis, flying faster than the speed of sound. In fifteen years, he has not rested.

He has been known to speak just once in thirty years. After extinguishing widespread fire in Alexandrovsk, he paused to survey the scene and be sure no blazes remained. A reporter spoke to him, and asked, 'Kto vy?' – what are you?

Shocking the world, caught on camera in a scene replayed innumerable times, he answered in a voice that sounded as though it might never have uttered a sound before. Barely audible, he told her, 'Scion'.

It became the name we used for him. Ironic, because we took a word that meant descendant, and used it to name the first of many superpowered individuals – parahumans – to appear across Earth.

Just five years after Scion's first appearance, the superheroes emerged from the cover of rumor and secrecy to show themselves to the public. Though the villains followed soon after, it was the heroes who shattered any illusions of the parahumans being divine figures. In 1989, attempting to quell a riot over a basketball game in Michigan, the superhero known to the public as Vikare stepped in, only to be clubbed over the head. He died not long after of a brain embolism. Later, he would be revealed to be Andrew Hawke.

The golden age of the parahumans was thus short lived. They were not the deific figures they had appeared to be. Parahumans were, after all, people with powers, and people are flawed at their core. Government agencies took a firmer hand, and state-"

The television flicked off, and the screen went black, cutting the documentary off mid sentence. Danny Hebert sighed and sat down on the bed, only to stand just a moment later and resume pacing.

It was five forty-five in the afternoon, and Taylor was not home yet. Worse, she had never been to the library.

Danny ran his hands through his hair, which was thinned enough at the top to be closer to baldness than not. Usually he didn't work the weekends. However he had just been called a few hours ago by the weekend secretary about a new client offering a possible job for twenty men, and they wanted to have a meeting at seven. Today.

He had originally made plans to spend the evening with Taylor, to make up for the neglect, maybe re-connect with her. But now he had to cancel. This was too big, too important. Yes, his family was important to him, and he missed spending time with his little girl. He missed the connection they used to have, before she grew up, before she became distant. But his workers also had people to worry about. This job could be important, it could let them feed their family's without having to resort to crime. Far too many of his men had been turning to the gangs lately.

So he had called the library a few hours ago to let her know about the change in plans. But she was not there. It was a bit odd, since she should have been done her running by then. He wondered, even as he knew the answer, why he hadn't gotten Taylor a cell phone. Danny didn't know what his daughter was doing, and had no easy way to get in touch with her.

Perhaps she was really pushing herself with the running, more than he had realized? Or else she might have run into trouble. She wasn't happy, he knew, and exercise was her way of working through it. It all stemmed from that bullying problem, the one he had not even known about until the hospital incident. He liked that her running made her feel better about herself, that she seemed to be doing it in a reasonable, healthy way, but what if she was starting to go overboard? He just hated that she had to do it here, in this neighborhood. Because here, a skinny girl in her mid-teens was an easy target for attack. A mugging or worse – he couldn't even articulate the worst of the possibilities in his own thoughts without feeling physically sick

There was precious little Danny could do about it. Heck, not much he could do about anything, not even the bullying. He had threatened to sue the school after his daughter had been taken to the hospital, and the school board had responded by settling, paying her hospital bills and promising they would look out for her to prevent such events from occurring in the future. It was a feeble promise made by a chronically overworked staff and it didn't do a thing to ease his worries.

His efforts to have her change schools had been stubbornly countered with rules and regulations about the maximum travel times a student was allowed to have between home and a given school. The only other school within a reasonable distance of Taylor's place of residence was Arcadia High, and it was already desperately overcrowded with more than two hundred students on a list requesting admittance. In the end, when she decided to home-school herself, it had been a relief. At least she didn't have to go back.

Countless times, he had glanced out the window, hoping to see Taylor coming in early maybe having changed her mind about hitting the library.

For the twentieth time, he felt the urge to ask his wife for help, for advice, for support. But her side of the bed was empty and it had been for some time. Daily, it seemed, he was struck by the urge to call her cell phone. He knew it was stupid – she wouldn't pick up – and if he dwelt on that for too long, he became angry at her, which just made him feel worse.

The second possibility wasn't much better, if Taylor had not run into trouble, perhaps she had lied? But what else would she be doing? Taylor wasn't social. She didn't go to parties, she wouldn't drink, she wasn't even that interested in champagne when they celebrated the New Year together. She was a sensible girl, took after her mother like that.

He glanced out the window again. Nothing.

He had tried to call other library's in the city. Perhaps she was simply going to a further one? It would be a laugh if that had been the cause of his worry. But no, nothing. He had given it another hour and called them all again, asking the librarians to pass on his message as soon as they saw her. She still was not there, even though it was almost four thirty by the time he had finished another round of calls.

Perhaps she was trying to rekindle her friendship with Emma? Or spending time with someone she had met at the library? Taylor hadn't said as much aloud, but whatever had been going on had been mean, persistent and threatening enough that Emma, Taylor's closest friend for years, had stopped spending time with her. It galled him. Taylor deserved to have friends, and not have bullies drive them away. She deserved so much more than he could provide for her.

Impotent. Danny was helpless where it counted. There was no action he could take – he had already left messages at the library's, and calling any more would only annoy them. He didn't know where exactly she ran, where she went during the day, when he was at work.

The slightest of vibrations in the house marked the escape of the warm air in the house to the cold outdoors, and there was a muffled whoosh as the kitchen door shut again. Danny Hebert felt a thrill of relief coupled with fear. If he went downstairs to find his daughter, would he find her hurting or hurt? Happy from spending time with a new friend? Depressed from an encounter with the bullies from her old school? He wished he could simply ask her what they had done to her, what horrors they had used to break her, turn her from a happy chatty kid, into this silent, brooding teen.

She had told him, in every way except articulating it aloud, that she didn't want that. She had pleaded with him, with body language and averted eye contact, unfinished sentences and things left unsaid, not to ask, not to push, not to see. He couldn't say why, exactly. Home was an escape from the bullies, he'd suspected, and if he recognized the bullying, made it a reality here, maybe she wouldn't have that relief from it. Perhaps it was shame, that his daughter didn't want him to see her like that, didn't want to be that weak in front of him. He really hoped that wasn't the case.

So he ran his fingers through his hair once more and went downstairs to give her the bad news. But he silently told himself that if she seemed upset, unhappy, then he would do his best to reschedule the meeting, to cut it short and come back here fast. The house was old, and it hadn't been a high quality building when it had been new, so the walls were thin and the structure prone to making noise at every opportunity. The stairs creaked loudly as he descended.

"Hey dad!" A chirpy happy voice pipes up from the kitchen. Relief floods though him. Taylor might be able to hide her emotions in her face, but her voice always gave it away. There was no tightness that would indicate a false mask of cheer.

"So got lots done at the library. Gotta say, the teachers at Winslow were pretty awful if I can be zooming along like this on my own."

Relief became anger. He was angry at Taylor, for making him worry, for lying about where she had been today and then not even going out of her way to let him know she was okay. He felt a smouldering resentment towards the city, for having neighborhoods and people he couldn't trust his daughter to. He hated the bullies that preyed on his daughter.

Underlying it all was frustration with himself. Danny Hebert was the one person he could control in all of this, and Danny Hebert had failed to do anything that mattered. He hadn't gotten answers, hadn't stopped the bullies, hadn't protected his daughter. Worst of all was the idea that this might have happened before, with him simply being at work and unable to supervise her self-learning.

He stopped himself from walking into the kitchen, from shouting at her and demanding answers, even if it was what he wanted, more than anything. Where had she been, what had she been doing? Was she even studying? He knew that by confronting her and getting angry at her, he would do more harm than good, would threaten to sever any bond of trust they had forged between them.

Danny's father had been a powerful, heavyset man, and Danny hadn't gotten any of those genes. Danny had been a nerd when the term was still young in popular culture, stick thin, awkward, short sighted, glasses, bad fashion sense. What he had inherited was his father's famous temper. It was quick to rise and startling in its intensity.

Unlike his father, Danny had only ever hit someone in anger twice, both times when he was much younger. That said, just like his father, he could and would go off on tirades that would leave people shaking. Danny had long viewed the moment he'd started to see himself as a man, an adult, to be the point in time where he had sworn to himself that he wouldn't ever lose his temper with his family. He wouldn't pass that on to his child the way his father had to him.

He had never broken that oath with Taylor, and knowing that was what kept him self contained, but wanting to punch something. While he'd never gotten angry at her, never screamed at her, he knew Taylor had seen him angry. Once, he had been at work, talking to a mayor's aide. The man had told Danny that the revival projects for the Docks were being cancelled and that, contrary to promises, there were to be layoffs rather than new jobs for the already beleaguered Dockworkers.

Taylor had been spending the morning in his office on the promise that they would go out for the afternoon, and had been in a position to see him fly off the handle in the worst way with the man. Four years ago, he had lost his temper with Annette for the first time, breaking his oath to himself. That had been the last time he had seen her. Taylor hadn't been there to see him shouting at her mother, but he was fairly certain she'd heard some of it. It shamed him.

The third and last time that he had lost his temper where Taylor had been in a position to know had been when she had been hospitalized following the incident in January. He'd screamed at the school's principal, who had deserved it, and at Taylor's then-Biology teacher, who probably hadn't. It had been bad enough that a nurse had threatened to call for a police officer, and Danny, barely mollified, had stomped from the hallway to the hospital room to find his daughter more or less conscious and wide eyed in reaction.

Danny harbored a deep fear that the reason Taylor hadn't offered any details on the bullying was out of fear he would, in blind rage, do something about it. It made him feel sick, the notion that he might have contributed something to his daughter's self imposed isolation in how she was dealing with her problems.

It took Danny a long moment to calm down, helped by telling himself over and over that Taylor was okay, that she was home, that she was safe. It was something of a blessing that, as the anger faded, he felt drained. He stepped into the kitchen and watched as his daughter blinked at him, confused. "Dad?"

"Sorry, had to take a moment to collect my thoughts. I have some bad news honey. There's a new client who wants to meet with me, to talk about getting twenty guys hired for a few months. This is big, it could make a huge impact for some of them. But I have to go soon, as the meeting is at seven, and I don't know how long it will be. I'm really sorry, and I promise we can spend time together tomorrow instead. Rain-check?"

She looks blank, but only a little disappointed. It hurts, that she might be used to this by now. Danny decides to push a bit, to see if he can't get anything from her.  
"I tried to call the library's, leaving messages for you, but they said that you weren't there?"

Her voice turns cautious, less cheerful. "Oh." She folds her arms around herself, defensive. "Maybe they just didn't notice me?"

He ignores the obvious lie. Taylor still won't trust him, so he'll just have to be patient. "It's ok Taylor, I just was concerned that you might have been attacked while running. Besides, it doesn't really matter as long as you ace those year end tests right?" Danny forces out a laugh.

"I guess I'll have to get you some pepper spray or something, to make me be less of a worry-wart."

"Dad..." Her voice softens, "It's fine. We can go on our little excursion tomorrow night. I don't mind, really."

It's hard to decipher that one, but Danny decides that it means forgiveness, unspoken understanding, and a truce. He grabs his keys, pulls on a jacket, kisses Taylor on the top of her head, and heads out. Time to go.

* * *

Also, yes, a huge amount of this is lifted from the original Danny Interlude, but not much has changed yet from the original timeline.

I did try my best to go though it all and modify the bits that no longer fit. It's a bit of a cop-out for a chapter, but surprisingly more work to modify existing stuff than I thought. Had to go through it line by line basically. To make up for this, there will be a second interlude, an original one, before I go on to the next series of chapters.

I think I'll do that with most of em. So for example, when the 2nd run of chapters is done, you'll get a modified Vicky one, and then another original.

Questions, comments, complaints? Review! :D


	11. Interlude 2 (Colin)

Colin was interrupted by a low 'ping' noise coming from his computer. He put down the component he had been working on, trying to make the power source just a bit more efficient, and focused on the computer. The analysis of the "Messenger" incident was apparently finished. Good, once he got this out of the way, he could focus more on his technology. An Endbringer attack was due this month, and he had to be ready to analize as much data as possible. More data was needed for the prediction program he was building.

Video starts up with the click of a mouse button. Recordings effortlessly edited together from various cameras, from the moment that the new cape entered the lobby of the PRT building, to when he had left through an office window. At least there was no property damage from this incident. But the possible PR damage to his Wards team? That was no laughing matter.

In the video, the new cape walks right up to the front desk and asks something. There was no sound yet, no point in wasting money on that feature since the lobby is always full of conflicting noise, too much to get anything usable.

The cape that had been code named 'Messenger' for now, walks to the waiting room following the receptionist, Clark Kent, and sits down.  
"Your guide will be here shorty." Clark says cheerfully to the cape. TRUTH shows the green words under the video. Messenger looks around for a few seconds before waiting patiently.

Video shows Miss Militia entering the room 22.5 seconds later.

"Hello, I'm Miss Militia and I'll be your guide today." TRUTH

Messenger gets to his feet and nods, "Uh, hi. Wow, I didn't think you would be the one showing me around. I didn't think I would get more than maybe a PRT officer..." TRUTH  
"So whats next?" QUESTION

"Well first we just have to go through a brief security screening to make sure you don't have anything dangerous on you." TRUTH  
"It is non-invasive and I promise it can't tell us who you are, only if you have weapons on you." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"Incidentally, it would be best to declare that sort of thing now before we go on." TRUTH  
"This includes biological and explosive weapons, as well as mundane weapons." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH

"Nope, nothing like that. Normally I'd have a small knife on me, but I figured it wouldn't be cool to bring it here." TRUTH

They walk down the scanning corridor. Messenger has that lanky walk of teenagers who have grown too fast. The height and limb analysis shows that despite the height, they are still young, not yet finished their full growth. This rules out the possibility of an adult cape attempting subterfuge, barring extremely competent shape-shifters. None of whom have ever demonstrated teleportation abilities, and there is not a single sign of technology or power emissions from Tinker tech that would allow mimicking teleportation or shape-shifting. This is unfortunate, as it would allow them to dismiss the accusations that are made later.

"Report is all clear Ma'am. No identifiable hazards." TRUTH

Nothing more is said until they leave the elevator.

"We are about to visit the Wards main headquarters. This tends to be where they hang out when on duty or on call. Each Ward has quarters here for when they need to sleep after a busy night and can't take the time to go home." TRUTH  
"Debriefing after missions happens here, along with getting new ones." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH

"We are just waiting a bit to give them time to get masks on, in case any of them forgot that today was the meeting with you. The red light will turn green when we are good to go." TRUTH

They enter the room and the camera switches to a composite viewpoint, made up from multiple camera angles and audio feeds. The lie detection program is more precise now, with the added data. The confidence values to the side of the screen rise.

"Aegis is the current leader, next oldest is Clockblocker, then Gallant. Then we have Shadow Stalker, Kid Win, whom you have already met, and Vista. This is a new prospective member, currently no cape name." TRUTH  
"You guys will be helping us test out his powers in a half-hour, after the meet and greet." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"I do hope you read the briefing Kid Win gave us?" TRUTH/RHETORICAL QUESTION  
I am here mostly in a supervisory capacity, but I'll leave the rest up to you guys." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH

Gallant speaks first. "Hey, lets not just all stare at the new guy. Come on over, take a seat." AMBIGUOUS  
"I promise we don't bite." TRUTH

"So..." Asks Clockblocker, "Teleporter huh?" QUESTION

"Yeah, wanna see?" QUESTION

"Of course!" Vista replies. TRUTH  
"Plus if we see it, we can maybe help you test stuff out better later-on right?" NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH/RHETORICAL QUESTION

Messenger demonstrates his power on screen.

"Woah, hey, you said you teleported, but there were two of you for a bit there!" Kid Win exclaims. "You didn't do that last time!" TRUTH

"Yeah, like I told you, I've been busy testing and figuring stuff out. Turns out I can leave a sort of 'afterimage' behind." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"It doesn't last long though." TRUTH

"Well, Kid Win said you were having trouble coming up with a cape name, how about Afterimage?" Aegis suggests. QUESTION

"I actually was seriously thinking about it," NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"but then some cape in the UK took it, literally a day before I met Kid Win." TRUTH  
"Talk about heartbreaking." JOKE/LIE

"Ooch, that does suck." TRUTH

Shadow stalker speaks up. "Oh boo-hoo, who cares what name message boy picks?" NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH/RHETORICAL QUESTION  
"He might not even get to keep it in the end." TRUTH

"Hey, it's not his fault that the higher ups decided that you needed a bit of a more 'family friendly re-branding'." TRUTH

"In a week she's getting re-branded as 'Myst Shadow'. She was really insistent on keeping the 'Shadow' part," TRUTH  
"but they wanted to ditch the Stalker bit, said it sent the 'wrong message'." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"Needless to say, she is getting a whole new, less scary costume to go with it and is _not_ pleased." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH

"Sooo... Do you want to know anything about the Wards program? They said you were only considering joining?" QUESTION

"Yeah, I want to keep my options open for now. I already know the basics of it, I did my research." TRUTH  
"Wards program has lots of benefits, but also lots of problems." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH

"Ok, we can talk about that later then, maybe after we've shown you how cool our power testing facility is?" TRUTH/RHETORICAL QUESTION

"What other stuff can you do? Any current limits so far? QUESTION  
"Just so we don't duplicate anything you have already tested..." NOT COMPLETE/LIE

"Ok, so I think I have a mass limit, no more than 120lb, or thereabouts." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"It includes my costume too. TRUTH  
"So realistically its more like 110lb." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"I only have to touch it to be able to take it with me," TRUTH  
"and I can leave up to 3 afterimages at once, if I teleport fast enough." NOT COMPLETE/LIE  
"I can choose not to leave them behind too." TRUTH  
"They aren't good for much yet, but they do carry out actions that I was about to do, or want them to do, for the few seconds until they melt into ash." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"Oh and so far, everything is just line of sight only. It's one reason why I'll be happy to test things with you, to see if there are ways of extending my range. I know its kind of short range compared to some teleporters who can go anywhere they have been before, so I'm hoping I can extend it with some tinker-tech." TRUTH

"Oh, I can probably help you test that!" TRUTH

"I'm also kinda curious about momentum and injurys, and plan to test that here too since I'm sure you have stuff I can use safely. Otherwise I would have had to try some tricky and dangerous experiments alone." TRUTH  
"I figure better to do it when I have people who can stop me from getting hurt too badly if it goes wrong. NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"But no other powers that I know of." LIE

Colin pauses the video for a moment to think freely and not miss anything. _Hmmm, so there is at least one other power that the Messenger has not demonstrated, and is keeping a secret. Must be something subtle. Thinker perhaps? Or Trump? Likely something sensory, to aid the teleportation._

The video continues and a few seconds into it, Gallant speaks."My idea is, what happens if we, aka Clockblocker, time-freeze an afterimage?" AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION  
"It probably won't tell us much, but it could prove interesting." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"Power interactions are always neat to explore." TRUTH

"Oooh, lets try it!" AMBIGUOUS/EXCITED  
"We don't even have to go down to the exercise room for this one!" NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH

"Ok, lets try it." AMBIGUOUS

Shadow Stalker interrupts again. "Really? What's the Frikking point?" AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION  
"Messenger boy is useless! NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"He can't move people around," TRUTH  
"he looks like a beanpole so he can't fight worth a damn." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"All he can do is teleport into the waiting arms of an enemy and die. Horribly." NOT COMPLETE/LIE  
"Probably the most useless teleporter I've ever heard of. All he'd be good for is delivering packages." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"Heh, Messenger... That's all you are." AMBIGUOUS  
"Maybe you should give up this notion of fighting villains and go home, get a job with FedEx." AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION

The messenger surrounds Clockblocker with afterimages, and as one is frozen in place, he tilts his head slightly to the side, as if in thought, looking in Shadow Stalkers direction.

As the first afterimage melts into ash (after 3.50 seconds from being left behind by the teleportation), the Messenger's posture stiffens suddenly. Then he teleports again around the room, all of his new afterimages looking at Shadow Stalker and with that same stiff posture. Gallant's notes indicate that at this point he had felt immense shock and anger from the subject.

"Perhaps this has something to do with that power the Messenger kept secret?" Colin asks himself idly, making a mental note to send this part to a few PRT Thinkers later, to see if they can decipher what exactly it is. Only once they decide to release this video to the analysts of course, since otherwise it could be a breach of security, or worse, a PR nightmare if it leaked.

The Messenger is visibly agitated and angry on the screen, and all the afterimages give out a little simultaneous shudder, barely noticeable. _That part is interesting... I wonder what caused a simultaneous reaction?_ (3.46 seconds after the first burst of teleportation) Another burst occurs, creating a new set of afterimages once again, spread out around the room. Their body language changes after a few seconds more, and this time as the afterimages fade away (after 3.39 seconds), they are not replaced.

The Messenger focuses on Gallant as he asks, "Uh, dude, whats wrong? You ok?" QUESTION

"What is wrong is that I figured out who s _he_ is," TRUTH  
The Messenger points right at Shadow Stalker, "and as such, I cannot _believe_ that you would accept a bully and an accessory to assault and attempted murder." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH

"Explain." QUESTION

"I know who Shadow Stalker is. As much as I am tempted, I won't tell anyone. Even _I_ know that you don't go around exposing secret identities without consequences. But I cannot even _think_ about joining a team that has _her_ on it.  
"She has spent the past year and a half bullying this girl called Taylor at school mercilessly, along with two other girls. It culminated in Taylor being shoved in a locker, one filled with used tampons, pads, and other assorted _filth_. Taylor almost _died_." TRUTH  
"She _would_ have died if I had not let her out of the locker when no-one was looking." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"After I realized that no-one else was going to. That is one of the reasons why I want to be a hero, to stop people like that." TRUTH  
"I _can't_ be on the same team as _her_." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"Either the PRT knows about this and does not care, or it is too _incompetent_ to know what it's Wards get up to." AMBIGUOUS  
"Either way, I do _not_ want to be a part of this organization." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"I want to leave now." TRUTH  
"Please let me out." QUESTION

"Oh please..." Shadow Stalker speaks up. AMBIGUOUS  
"You don't honestly believe this nameless beanpole?" AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION  
"It's clear that you must be one of my rejected suitors." NOT COMPLETE/LIE  
"You probably got all worked up over asking me out, only to get rejected." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"Heart broken, crushed, and stomped." AMBIGUOUS  
"Now you want to get revenge on me for turning you down for a date? AMBIGUOUS/RHETORICAL QUESTION  
"Pathetic." TRUTH  
"How could you use poor Taylor's horrible attack against me like this? LIE/RHETORICAL QUESTION"  
"It's beyond pathetic. I am a _great_ hero," NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"much better than you ever will be, and you are just jealous." NOT COMPLETE/LIE  
"You just want to knock me down a peg." NOT COMPLETE/TRUTH  
"Well good luck with that. I'm a Ward." AMBIGUOUS/TRUTH  
"Without any proof of your baseless accusations, there is no way they will get rid of me." TRUTH  
"Plan failed, loser." NOT COMPLETE/LIE

"I want to go now. Please let me out. I don't want to talk about this any more." TRUTH

As everyone on screen hesitates to move, Messenger teleports around in a frenzied burst, and all his afterimages shout, "Let me out!" QUESTION

Gallant notes that at this point he felt immense desperation, panic and fear from the subject, so he flew to let the Messenger out before he could turn violent.

The last thing said on video is Gallant apologizing up in the office, "I'm sorry. I thought this might be a faster way for you to leave than going through security again." TRUTH

The Messenger simply nods and melts away, presumably having teleported out.

One minute and thirty-seven seconds after the Messenger has left, the afterimage in the Wards room melts away. Careful examination of the video shows that the afterimage unfreezes and simply stands there for a few seconds, consistent with the behavior of the other afterimages created from the same burst of teleportation. Likely because it only had instructions to stand there.

Colin sighs and runs through the video two more times before he is finished analyzing it. _This is not good,_ he decides. _The Messenger was telling the truth as far as he knew it, and Shadow Stalker didn't outright deny the accusation. Only tried to discredit him. And she has always had a problem with never telling a simple outright lie or truth. There is always ambiguity, half-truths, half-lies, leaving information out, answering with a question, and so on. Makes it harder for me to catch her at breaking her parole, and she knows it._

Colin decides to investigate the school, to confirm if this incident did or did not take place. He even has the name of the main victim, so it won't be difficult.  
Even if he cannot get undeniable proof of Shadow Stalkers involvement, it will be enough to let him ship her off to another PRT district. This would at least prevent any more bullying from taking place, and hopefully entice the Messenger to reconsider joining the PRT Wards.

There is no way he is letting Shadow Stalker ruin his reputation and dirty the reputation of his Wards with her little bullying problem. They will hush this up fast, ship her off somewhere she can't continue her behavior, and hopefully that will be problem solved. Best to relocate her quickly, so she has little time to try to track down the Messengers civilian identity. Colin wouldn't put it past her to try, given that they seem to share the same school.

 _It's a good thing that he decided to become a hero, to stop that kind of thing._ Colin thinks to himself. I _shudder to think of what would have happened if the girl pushed into the locker had been the one to gain powers. Likely a villain, possibly might have tried to retaliate against the entire school._

Colin puts on his armor and helmet, grabs his halberd, and lastly he pockets the data stick with the fully analyzed video. Armsmaster exits his lab, nods to the PRT guards outside, and heads off to Director Emily Piggot's office. He has a report to make.

* * *

AN: Muahahahah, I'm kinda evil aren't I? This is just another rehash of a previous chapter, cunningly disguised as a new one! So evil! :P  
(Sorry!)

Oh and just FYI, The Australian Simurgh attack is coming up, and since my timeline for Taylor starts a bit sooner than the original story, you guys get to learn more about it! Problem is, there is precious little info about what it/she did there, only that they lost and had to put up a dome. Makes me wonder, what could have possibly have happened that requires a dome, instead of say, nuking it or burning it or something? Oh well, I'll figure something out.

Oh and I've fixed all my 'wont' into 'won't', thanks to **technoninja1** pointing out my embarrassing mistake. Thanks dude! :)  
And condensed down the multiple "TRUTH"s in a row, to be less annoying.


	12. Interlude 3 (Dominic)

Dominic gazed upon the Sony PMW-TD300 in awed reverence. The 3D camcorder was nestled in its carrying case, gently swaddled in layers of foam. The matte black sides dully absorbing the light.

Brockton Bay University was one of the better schools out there, but the fact that the film department had enough funds to waste on this $50,000 camcorder was amazing. And he had finally made it to the top of the waiting list.

The possibilities were endless! His next project was going to be amazing, so amazing, that it will attract the attention of some bigwig in Hollywood. Then Dominic would be whisked off to a life of luxury, babes, and booze. Filming superstars and capes, drinking champagne, maybe even a girlfriend or two! Girls liked guys with money.

Dominic sighs, and closes the case, dreams melting away. Of course, the chances of all that happening were slim to none. He would probably have to work his way up from the bottom. But when his chance came, at least the skills he was learning now would let him be great, or at least good. And this week? This week he got to play with one of the most advanced video recording devices on the planet. (Not including Tinker-tech.)

Pulling out his cell, he dials his best friends number.

"Sup Dom?"

"Dude, I got the 3D camera! I need-need-need you man. You have the looks, you have the voice, you even have the muscles, you have to be the star of the new film. It's 3D man! I haven't bugged you much this year to act in my short films and junk. I only got you to do that one commercial for me, so you HAVE to do this Mark!"

"Finally got to the top of that list huh? Please tell me this isn't gonna be a super long film? I have a midterm coming up to study for."

"Nah, I've already started on my year long film project for the one that's supposed to go for half an hour. Changing to 3D halfway through would be crap, and I'm not scrapping it. I mostly only have editing left to do on it anyways. No this one is for my own midterm project. I've kinda been putting it off since I knew I was at the top of the list and was gonna get it this week sometime. We only have a week to film it, but it's a max of ten minutes run-time, so it won't take long to get all the footage we need."

"Eh, ok then. It's only a week, so it shouldn't hurt. When do ya need me?"

"Err, I was hoping for tonight? There's a few night scenes we can do here on campus, and I have all the props and clothes ready. I grabbed it all last week to save time for when I had the camera. Mostly just basic shots tonight, walking around, opening and closing doors, some parkour on the stairwells and art junk. I'll get some extras lined up for tomorrow or the day after, we can do the plot stuff then. I'll give you your script tonight so you have a day or two to learn the lines and figure out whats going on."

Dominic waits through a long pause, nervously biting his inner lip.

"Ok, I'm getting nowhere right now anyways. I'll finish up some stuff on my computer, and meet ya outside in fifteen minutes. That long enough to grab all your costumes and props and junk?"

"Yeah, that should be fine. I'll meet you in the parking lot outside your building. Thankyou-thankyou-thankyou-thankyou!"

"Hahahaha, it's ok dude, just remember me when you become a bigshot, ok?"

"Course!"

Clicking his cellphone off, Dominic grins widely. The grin fades halfway to his car, as the weight of the camcorder is starting to get annoying.

"Gorram heavy-ass thing. This is gonna be a pain on my shoulders soon enough. Thing must weight ten pounds at least! Ugh, maybe I really should start going to the gym with Mark. Stupid gyms already paid for with my tuition, might as well use it."

Finally the crappy beat-up car is reached, and Dominic puts the case down gently. Rubbing his arms and stretching his fingers out, he reconsiders. "Nah, gym means even more lifting of heavy things. Best to just minimize it as much as possible. No point in giving up my laziness yet!"

The trunk is full of the props and costume stuff, so Dominic gently slides the case into the messy back seat, firmly on the floor amidst crumpled up papers and empty drink bottles. Giving it a measuring eye, he silently orders it to stay put.

He navigates the streets until he is now parked behind a modern looking building. Technically it's teacher and grad-student only parking, but it's late enough in the day that most of them are home and there are plenty of free spots. Chances of getting a ticket are slim.

Mark soon exits, wearing nothing more than a tight white t-shirt and jeans. Dominic feels his usual flash of jealousy at the way his friend casually shows off his muscles and moves effortlessly, always looking cool. _It's not fair that he looks so much like a muscle-bound jock! He is just as nerdy as me, but you'd never be able to tell by looking at him._ And the worst part is that he knows that Mark didn't always look like this. He used to be just another pimply faced nerd, till they started going to University and Mark began to use the gym.

Pushing down the insecurities and jealous fears, Dominic grins at Mark and gets out of the car. "Dude!"

"Hahaa, man, you must be really excited about this 3D camera thing."

"Duh! This camcorder is worth half a crappy house! And now I get to play with it, for an entire week! It's gonna be orgasmic man!"

"Ewww, I do not need to know what you do with the camera when you get alone time with it. Moving on... Whats the plot? And genre? What do I need to know?"

"Oh right, lemme grab the script, one sec."

Popping open the trunk reveals clothes, sci-fi looking props, and a few ragged bundles of paper held together with an overlapping mass of staples in one corner.

Dominic lazily grabs one paper bundle and shoves it at Mark. "Ok, so its a sci-fi gritty thing, I figure this city has enough crappy looking buildings that it won't be hard to find good sets. And we can use lots of the university for interior stuff. There's a couple of things I put together to look like tinker-tech gadgets. You as the main character, get to wear this badass long leather coat I found in a thrift store. There is a boring work shirt in there too, and as long as you wear the same pair of jeans for the rest of the week, we'll be good for continuity."

"Can do." Mark nods.

"You are a law dude, trying to investigate a crime. You got gadgets that tell ya stuff, I'll edit in fancy looking screens later, so just stare at it and pretend it is doing something. So first is the mystery, who are you, what crime are you investigating, whats going on? Then comes conflict, you chase a suspect guy down, doing some of that cool parkour stuff that I've seen you show off before. We'll do some cool camera angles and make good use of the 3D effect."

"Law dude, that sounds so official." He rolls his eyes but Dominic ignores him and move on.

"Then a lull, exposition, as we have to interrogate him, talk to a team member or boss, depends on who we get as an extra, if they look like a boss type or a co-worker type. This parts flexible as long as we hit all the exposition points. Lastly the finale, another big fight scene, the twist ending, and close credits."

"Sounds good, not too original for a short film, but if the twists good enough it should work I think."

"Yup. Keeping it simple, and classic. So today we'll just get you walking around outside, inside, opening doors and closing doors, running, climbing stairs, jumping around doing parkour stuff, and being all amazing. Nothing with lines. We'll still have to do some parkour stuff later when I get the guy you'll be chasing down, but that's later. Easy nuff?"

"Yeah, sounds easy enough. Alright, I'll get changed, and put on my dangerous look." Mark makes a face, and while it is clearly exaggerated, it does make him look angry and dangerous.

Dominic hands him the clothes, and with no shame at all, Mark pulls off his shirt and starts to pull on the slightly too big dress shirt.  
 _  
Muahahah, my secret weapon! Every guy will want to be him, every gal will want to fuck him, the perfect protagonist! And somehow Mark knows how to move just like an action hero. I don't know where the dude learned it, but I'm certainly gonna take advantage of it._ Dominic thinks to himself, already plotting out the best, most grungy locations to film at tonight.

They add on the accessories, a watch (not actually functional), sunglasses picked from a pile of different ones, and a wide belt with a cell phone holder that a prop gadget is put into.

The dark leather jacket hangs heavily, and Mark practices moving in it. He finally settles into a dangerous looking walk, coat swishing menacingly. Pure danger rolls off him as he glares at Dominic. _A natural!_ Dominic thinks with glee. "Alright, that's awesome but maybe a little less evil, you're a detective, a good guy remember?"

Mark nods and tries again, somehow easily changing the walk to look more professional, like a trained and deadly government agent. Restrained danger this time, not as openly aggressive.

"Perfect! You read the script over more, and I'll get the camcorder set up. I already checked everything over when I signed for it, so the battery is full and memory sticks empty. It's ready to go in just a minute."

Dominic opens up the case, and cradles the camcorder like a baby, making sure that nothing has changed since the last time he looked it over. He shoves everything else back into the car, closes the trunk, and swings it smoothly to his shoulder, resting it comfortably on a thick hand towel that will hopefully prevent his shoulder from getting too sore.

Turning it on and checking the settings, he makes sure that it is setup exactly how he wants it, referencing some hastily written notes in his pocket from when he was studying the user manual. His face hurts from grinning so wide, and he makes sure to keep one hand on the camera for stability at all times. Turning to Mark, he feels tingly all over, excitement filling every inch of him. It's like Christmas, all over again!

"Lets do this!"

* * *

Dominic dangles upside-down by his leg at the top of the stairwell, Mark holding on tightly. The priceless, amazing camcorder tumbles as if in slow motion, down and to the ground. It only falls down a single floor, but that is more than enough. As it hits the ground, it seems to shudder, the case crumpling and a few parts flying out in a spray.

Dominic sees it all happening, and can do nothing to stop it, watching helplessly, arms outstretched from when he tried to catch it. He is paralyzed by dark emotions, wishing that he had fallen after it, had not been stopped by Mark. Maybe he could have caught it, shielded it with his body. Irrationally, he hates Mark, hates that his friend saved him from his stupidity, that even now, Mark is pulling him up, trying to get him over the railing and to safety. And it's all Dominic's fault. This fact is a hammer blow to his pride.

A sinking feeling, a sense of doom, of his life, his dreams shattering, overcomes him. He knows that there is no way he can afford to replace this camcorder. The University won't be happy. The fee just for returning it with a light scratch was already in the hundreds, he can't imagine how many thousands he is going to owe after this. They'll never let him sign out another camcorder ever again!

Despair, loss, panic, all overwhelms him and he blacks out for a second. Mark also blacks out, but neither of them know this. Luckily Dominic had already been pulled half over the banister, so with Mark's panicked grip holding strong, Dominic does not fall.

As they both come to consciousness, Dominic has only one clear thought in his head. _I must fix this! I know how to fix this! I think I know how to make sure it will never break again, never fall! I need... I need supplies._

Dazed, Dominic realizes that he is upright again. He blinks, and looks right in Marks eyes. "I can fix this."

He ignores Marks attempts to ask if he is ok, and runs down the stairs.

Gathering the broken bits of the video camera, he dumps them in Marks arms. Mark looks at him bemused, and tries again. "Dom, you ok? Seriously, your kinda worrying me."

"It's ok, I can fix this. Make it better. It will never break again. We have to go to the computer labs, I need hardware, components. You have a keypass, you have to let me in."

"Dude, I'm sure its ok, the University will be a little pissed off, but that's what insurance is for right?"

Angrily, Dominic turns on Mark, "NO! Even if they replace it, I can't afford the fees they'll charge me for breaking it. And I won't ever get another department camcorder to use. I'll have to buy a crappy cheap one and never be able to make a good film again. I'll flunk! Or be kicked out, unable to afford next year's tuition. I need you to help me."

Voice wavering, angry tears fill the corner of his eyes. "Please!" He pleads.

Dominic both hates and loves Mark, as compassion and pity fill his face. "Ok. Whatever you need."

Mark leads the way to the computer department, and lets them in with a single swipe of his keypass. There is a room full of components, neatly labeled and organized, that Mark shows to him. Dominic grabs them with an uncanny intuition, knowing with a glance if he needs it or not.

A design is unfolding in his head, a camcorder that can't be dropped, and won't be a heavy weight on his shoulders. _It will hover, and fly instead! And just in case something hits it, it will have a shell, an unbreakable shell to protect it. Hmm, and I can line the shell with stuff to protect it from EMP's. It has to be well protected, can't have things destroy it, not electricity, not a fall, nothing! I need more stuff, these components are not enough._ "Mark, I need more stuff, I need large coils, and mesh. Some other stuff too..."

"Uh, we have lots of junk that the University keeps, just in case it ever wants it again. But it ends up just being room after room full of useless stuff that used to cost a lot of money. Heck, we run out of room for crap, you've seen the solar panels they store in my office."

"Ok, show me all of it, I'll know it when I see it." _Right, can't forget the power source, maybe the shell can collect the sun's energy? No, too weak for the gravity manipulation needed for flight. Void energy! Pull it from a vacuum. I'll need vacuum tubes too!_

Dominic gathers supplies, then finds a lab room with the needed tools. He starts adding things, and cutting away parts that have broken irreparably. Working into the night, everything seems to get added to the growing ball of parts, from expensive components to old junk liberated from dusty boxes. The only recognizable part of it all is the two camera lenses emerging from the mass. Somehow the lenses were not cracked by the fall, a minor miracle for sure.

Mark has to use a few tricks to get into some locked rooms, somehow he has mastered the art of breaking into places. If it was not so convenient for Dominic, he would start wondering at his friends suspicious new skills. However his laser-like focus on his project distracts him from lingering long on the oddity. Halfway through the project, they make a raid on the chemistry departments building. Liberating a pile of chemicals from a locked store-room is easy, and they make sure to avoid the few cameras in the building.

Mark rarely speaks, instead he just watches fascinated as this thing is built. Stepping forward to hold stuff or help when directed, he is the perfect assistant. Eventually they are almost done.

The chemicals get added to an aluminum sink that's been plugged up. Filtration meshes and electricity are applied in specific ways. Dominic is unable to say why he knows what will happen, he just knows that it will work and give him what he needs. The cotton t-shirt that Mark had been wearing earlier today is sacrificed, dipped inside the odd concoction. Fuzzy foamy stuff starts to gather on it, until it is now a sheet of thick but light, blue foam. Peeling off the cotton backing, the foam is wrapped around the electronic components, then the copper mesh around that.

Only the camcorder lenses stick out of the mesh and foam, through a hole cut for them. They even welded the mesh closed using a laser welder in the engineering department. Another layer of foam is made from the chemicals and t-shirt, and by now the ball of technology is a good foot in diameter.

Dominic barely remembers to neutralize the chemicals before he lets the sink drain, visions of a giant foamy explosion ruining the sewer pipes make him laugh out loud. "Dom? Uh, you are doing that evil mad scientist laugh thing. Not good dude."

"Sorry, was imagining a foamy explosion in the sewers. But I neutralized the stuff so it won't actually do that."

"So uh, is now a bad time to ask what exactly you are doing? Cus that looks nothing like the camera that broke. Somehow I doubt you will be able to turn this in and pretend that it never broke in the first place."

Dominic finally snaps out of the Tinker Fugue state, and really _looks_ at what he has built. "Uh, right, fuck, I think you're right. There's _no_ way this will pass. I guess it's been a few hours, I should probably explain what I was trying to do."

"Actually, it's 5 am, so it's been an entire night."

"Fucking shit! 5 am? Fuck!"

"Yeah... so uh... How long have you been a Tinker?"

"Tinker?" Dominic stares at his almost finished, flying video camera. "Holy shit! I'm a Tinker!"

Mark just stares incredulously at Dominic, then starts to laugh. Low, deep booming laughter shakes his entire body, until he winds up on the ground, still shaking with laughter.

"Fuck you man, it's not that funny!"

"Hahah... *gasp* Hahahaha, it totally is... Hahahahahahah... You... You... Didn't even realize... Hahaha!"

"Oh shit! You're not gonna tell anyone are you?"

"Hahahahhaa... sorry, gimme a sec." Mark pries himself off the floor. "Heh... Heh, ok, so no, I'm not going to tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me. Although we really should finish whatever you are doing fast, before people start to show up."

"Fuck!" Suspicion and paranoia rear their ugly heads, Dominic thinking for once about the consequences and odds of survival as a Tinker without a team. "How, how, do I know? How can I be sure I can trust you man? This is big! This is serious!" Panic adds a whine to his voice. "Oh god, oh god... I'm gonna be hunted down, forced to join a gang! Or the PRT! I don't wanna fight Endbringers! I don't wanna die! I just want to make movies!"

Hands suddenly grip his shoulders reassuringly, as Mark looks him right in the eye. "Relax. I won't sell you out, because I'm a cape too. Now you know. I have powers, you have powers. So if I ever told anyone, then I'd be screwing myself too wouldn't I?"

"You could be just saying that! Prove it!"

"How do you think I was able to pick those locks? Or do those cool flips and parkour moves? I barely have time to go to class, study, eat, sleep and go to the gym, let alone practice and learn stuff like that. I know techniques, skills. Like a way of walking that looks 'deadly and dangerous' for your movie. It's subtle, I didn't get showy lasers or anything, but I can do a lot of stuff with it."

Dominic thinks hard for a second, then slowly nods. It's plausible, and it would explain lots of niggling little things that had been bugging him. He'll test it later, when they don't have only an hour or two left before they get caught.

Relaxing, he shoves Marks hands off him. "Ok, then freak-out over. Lets finish the shell of this baby."

An hour and a half later, a strange reddish-gold metal is poured on the sphere. The sphere is completely encased, and is rotating slowly in the air to prevent any metal from dripping or pooling in any one spot.

"Dom? I hate to tell you this but you forgot to make a hole for the lenses. I know you put a thin sheet of glass from a microscope slide on there, but it's completely covered by the metal."

"Au contrair my friend! While the metal is still warm and mostly liquid, I shall hit it with this laser! That will organize the molecules in the metal to be transparent, but only where the laser hits! And the best part is that the transparency will only occur as it cools, thus I won't accidentally fry the lenses and delicate components inside!"

"Ah, well that's clever then. Good thing you gave it wireless connectivity."

"Now, FIRE THE LASERS!"

Mark flips a switch and just quirks an eyebrow at Dominic. "You've always wanted to say that haven't you?"

"Yup! Now shush, I have to be careful how I'm rotating this."

A few seconds later, the nods, "Ok, off. There, that should do it. Now we just have to hide all evidence that we ever were here and that we stole tons of stuff. Find a way to sneak this out while not touching anything with it as it's still molten hot. Then come up with a reason why I've completely lost the 3D camcorder, and can't produce even a broken pile of stuff. And of course, figure out how the hell I'm going to survive the fines I'm about to get hit with for breaking the damn thing..."

"Gee... Sure sounds easy when you put it that way." Mark's sarcasm falls flat as they both tiredly get to work, putting things away neatly, and scrubbing away all evidence that they were there.  
"Oh well, with luck no-one will ever notice anything majorly wrong. I know no-one will miss the components we took, or the stuff we 'liberated' from the junk rooms. Also, I'm never ever acting in one of your short films ever again. Clearly you are cursed."

"Hey!"

* * *

AN: Ok, I lied. I felt bad for the two interludes, since both were kinda co-outs. So this little plot bunny made itself known, and I decided to give you all Leet's Trigger event, as imagined by me. I figure, there has to be someone with film background to have given them the idea to film video-game things for a living. So one of em's a Film student, wanting to be a director. And since directors can be assholes, who better than Leet? :P

Now we shall go back to your regularly scheduled entertainment. (And hopefully I didn't use the wrong kind of writing style halfway through the middle of it all. I do that sometimes.)


	13. Letter Opener 2-1

"Aaaand CUT!" Leet shouts out, balancing precariously on a tree branch. He is holding a normal looking video-camera with one hand, while the other is firmly grabbing the tree trunk. The snitch is hovering just over the ground on the opposite side of us, pointed up for a low-angle shot.

Apparently it was actually called the 'Eye', but Leet liked my nickname for it. Said that now he's thinking about doing a Quiddich video. I always thought that was just a kids book series, but apparently someone in Earth Alpeh had made a video game about it, so it technically fit their theme. Downside is that we first would have to find a way to get a bunch of flying brooms, since making them would be 'too much fail', whatever that means. (Probably explosions.)

We were in the park on Captain's Hill, at the base of the mountains to the west of the city. It was a bit out of the way, not many people came out here, but it still had a few hikers here and there.

I had agreed to filming from three thirty pm to five pm, every day till it was finished. Apparently the light was no good by the time it got to five, so we mostly did filming non-stop for the first half hour, then planned out the next days shoot and practiced choreography and showmanship. Uber would teach me some specific fighting moves that I might find useful, and Leet would blather on in the background about film techniques, editing, and whatnot.

Most of it I don't pay much attention to, but it's amazing how much he knows about the subject. Heck, it's amazing how much work goes into a video in the first place. We've already been filming for five days now. I was getting much better at keeping my selves in the cameras view, but not blocking the line of sight to the protagonist. That part is important I found out, after getting yelled at a few times for blocking shots. As is doing the same fight three times in a day, but with different camera angles and shots each time.

Sometimes the camera is right by Uber's head, sometimes it's above us looking down. Sometimes I even will tag the camera, porting it with me so that it gets duplicated for a bit, giving us up to five views at once. Apparently Uber and Leet had to do some fiddling with their laptop to be able to process multiple snitch signals at once, but Leet seemed excited by the possibilities since it gives him more footage with less takes.

There was a lot of work that went into putting on a good show, but at least I was getting better at fighting along the way. I even use the gym on the ship every second day now in the morning. Mostly I don't feel any improvement whatsoever, just horribly sore muscles the next day. But it's only been a few days so far, so I've only gotten started. In a few months, I'll probably be ready to actually go out heroing.

My new temporary ninja costume is much better fitting, almost too much, but hopefully my girlishness is not noticeable enough to give away my cover. Once I get some muscles, it won't be as noticeable I hope.

I head on over to the little blue cooler and grab myself a drink, Uber is busy helping Leet get down from the tree. Turning away from them, I look out at the park as I drink, at the barren, wintry landscape. Bare trees with no leaves, brownish ground with the occasional muddy area. There hasn't been any snow for a few weeks now, it's all melted away except for the parking-lot mountains, and a few sheltered cold spots. It's still too cold at night for the grass to grow, so the ground is all brown and ugly.

We'd used that to our advantage a few times, one shot that Leet was excited about was a bunch of my ninjas jumping out of the trees at Uber. But then he started muttering about re-colouring the ground to look more green in post, so I think even he finds all this brown too depressing.

I can hear the other two approaching the cooler now, Leet complaining about something as usual. (Such a whiner that guy.) Pulling my face mask up again, I turn around.

"So, I think that wasn't bad, I've finally gotten much better at making sure I'm out of camera view when I go to ash, so there won't be as much editing needed now. But I think I'm going to have to be more careful from now on."

I look at Uber's bleeding arm cut pointedly.

"I'm starting to be decent at this fighting thing, it's getting a bit too chaotic in there now. You dodged one nasty strike, only to directly put yourself in the path for that. Sorry dude, I shouldn't have tried for that head slash, I knew you could dodge it, but I didn't realize you would dodge that way. I was trying for a leg slash instead with the afterimage on your left."

"Nah, that's ok. Stings, but I can handle it. We probably have to redo that bit though, otherwise we'll have to add that arm wound into other shots, it's a continuity nightmare."

"Eh, fuck it, I've been thinking about that, it's actually near then end of the fight, I think I can prob edit it so that it's one of the last scenes. We do a brief shot of Uber, arm bleeding, standing over some fallen ninja corpses, before the arm stops bleeding. Then bam, we wrap up this forest scene, we have more than enough footage now, then we move on to some other scenes. I'm sick of this fuckin forest. We can add in some fake arm cut scarring and bleeding for other shots, keep the continuity. Really, having arms bare like that, it would look suspicious if there weren't _some_ cuts now and then."

"Alright, lets finish that up before we lose the light then." Uber grins and flexes his arm, making it bleed even more.

"Gross dude." Leet looks away fast, then starts directing the snitch with hand gestures and vocal commands.

It's pretty boring actually. Uber strikes a dramatic pose, breathing heavily, exaggerating his exhaustion. Sword held in a dramatic, impractical pose. I cascade out, and flop to the ground in various death poses. A lovely half-circle of me, lying on the cold, hard ground. Whee...

We repeat this a few times, the snitch flying in circles and Leet taking footage with his hand-held. "Right, CUT!" He shouts when he's satisfied.

I get up, brushing dirt from my back with another self, my power is a handy thing sometimes. "So, we've finished the running woods battle, we only have the origin and the ending left, right?"

"Yeah, we'll hire some extras to play the parents and the kid version of Ryu. I've got a costume similar to yours, so we both attack the parents, no afterimages needed this time I think. We'll have a crying kid hiding in some corner with some closeups, then maybe break into an abandoned office somewhere to film Leet giving orders to his ninjas. Probably only take a day for that part. Then it's the final battle a few days later. We'll have to move fast for that one, as it has to be a city scene and other gangs or capes might try to interfere with the fight. Leet and I can do the connecting scene ourselves, we need to have my character beat up a few shady looking types for information. Leet already has them hired and ready to go for tomorrows filming."

"Yup, so you get two days off filming Ash, then we'll need ya again. Go forth and enjoy yourself or some shit. We'll get ya a fresh costume for the other scenes, this one's too covered in mud and fake blood despite the stain proofing shit we put on it."

I'm about to port out when Uber interrupts. "Hey, hey, hold on. Remember the costume prototype?" Uber elbows Leet hard.

"Oh, right, Uber insisted that you get a few days to try it out, so we can modify the final costume as you like. It's pretty sweet, but obviously we'll change the decoration crap based on your final name and theme. Speaking of, ya really should pick that soon. Theme and image is fuckin important. There's a reason why most capes care about how the media portrays them, and why lots gravitate to Hollywood."

I'm a bit taken aback that they want me to try a prototype so soon, I had figured they would only get started on the costume at the end of filming. Guess it makes sense though, there's bound to be problems and things I don't like about it, given that they are designing it blindly. I'm not exactly a fashion designer, so I didn't really know what I wanted in a costume.

Uber goes jogging off to the mobile platform, and comes back with a plastic grocery bag. He starts to pull out the various costume bits, showing them off with a silly grin and exaggerated dramatic hand gestures while Leet talks.

"So first up, the under leggings and long-sleeve shirt. It's stretchy, wicks away sweat, and is very breathable. Special fabric of course. Built to keep you cool and comfortable no matter if its very hot, or very cold. Will actually help against ice and fire attacks a bit, keeping you from burning or from frostbite, but only so much. Don't stand in a fire obviously. This is only for the thermal bloom of being near one. If you do get hit with fire, we have to make you a new one, if you even survive it. It's all just black right now, we can colourize it later. It comes with thin gloves and socks, plus a ninja mask too."

They basically look like thin, stretchy black leotards, but with total body coverage. They alone would reveal way too much about my body, so I hope the next layer is less tight.

"We aren't sure if you really wanted a helmet, or if you just wanted the protection of one, but our machine has a hard time with stuff that is meant to be solid. We can make cool helmet designs, but they have no protection whatsoever, it's just fabric that's designed to harden into a shape. If you really want a helmet, you can wear one on top of the ninja mask, or get that shit yourself."

I shake my head as he talks, I've been enjoying the freedom and comfort of the ninja mask and head covering, I don't want to go back to a helmet.

"Next up, the stab proof, bullet proof, outer layer. If you get shot in the same spot a few times, they will go through eventually, so try to spread out the bullets. Plus it will still feel like getting hit with a baseball bat, so if you get shot in the head, expect to black out for a few seconds at least. But hey, better than dying!"

I'm a bit disturbed that he thinks I'm going to get shot a bunch in the future, but he's right, better safe than sorry.

"Uber says we have to offer you a warranty on this shit, so if you wreck the costume we'll make you a new one to replace it for free. These are the pants and coat, thick is good in this case. More layers is more protection, so we figured you wouldn't mind us making it super thick. If you hate it, we can lighten it, but it will only protect against lighter ammunition then. Uber was concerned about flexibility, so it is a bit less thick around the joints, if you still have trouble moving around in it, we can reduce it even more in the final version."

Oh good, the cloth will definitely be thick enough to let me pretend to be male. It's nice to know that if I destroy my costume somehow, I'll get free replacements. I'm glad Uber insisted on that, I'd hate to have to always be worried about my costume. Since Uber was concerned about the flexibility, I'll have to find a way to test that, make sure it won't impair me. Maybe I'll have a test fight against him later?

Uber turns the black, knee length coat over, revealing... Feathers? A cape? He has fun messing around with them, running his fingers through the individual long strips of fabric, layered to look like feathers hanging a few inches below the shoulders. That's odd. The longest ones extend below the bottom of the coat by a whole foot at least.

"This is the best part though." Leet continues with excitement, "On the back is a special parachute! We designed it to look like mother-fucking feathers, it's pretty sweet. See normally, it will just hang down your back, hiding the back part of your costume. Flutter in the breeze a bit, like a cape, but otherwise its just decorative limp feathers, right? The feathers themselves aren't bullet proof, but they are stab resistant, as well as non conductive, just in case you do stupid shit during a storm. Hopefully they make you less likely to attract lighting, and it makes it so you can't get tased from behind. But you can't have bulletproof and electric proof in the same fabric. This city lacks lightning capes, so you probably don't need to have everything be taser proof, but we can do it in a separate layer if you insist. Melts pretty bad in a fire though, so I'd recommend against using it too much near your skin."

Right, not to self, avoid fire. (As if I didn't already know that fire was bad for my health.)

"Anyways, it doesn't matter if some of the feather strips get damaged, the others will still work. Each feather is a long hollow tube, designed to trap air just like a mini parachute. Uber used nothing but real world physics for it, so it's not Tinker crap that needs maintenance all the time. One or two of em will have no effect, but there are hundreds of these, so it should slow you down enough to not die from a huge fall. If you land right, you might not even break your legs."

Huh, I guess they decided to add these things in because of what I spray painted on my leather jacket, I should have told them it was just random stuff to indicate that I'm a good guy. I wasn't really looking for flight or the ability to fall slower, but I guess it might come in handy.

"It only works if you are facing downwards. You seem to be able to port into any position you want to, so if you port up into the air, but facing towards the ground with your arms out, then the fall will force air into them, slowing you down. We noticed that you like to go up for a better vantage point, so this should help with that. You might be able to steer your fall a bit, but I got no fucking clue how."

Uber swishes the long coat around vigorously, forcing air into some of the feathers. They puff out a little bit and look more wing-like that way.

"When falling, they _should_ fluff out and look like wings outstretched from your back, so it's gonna look utterly awesome. It was not easy to get these suckers designed so that they would work but also look cool. If there are any problems with that part, let us know so I can redesign em or take them out entirely. I'm not too sure about how functional it is, cus we can't exactly use afterimages to test shit like falling to our deaths safely."

Great, I'm not sure it's worth the future leg breaking pain, to have a cool looking cape. I'm not into fancy appearances, just practical and useful things.

"Oh, and watch out for capes that can make wind, there is a good chance that if you get blasted with strong sideways wind, it will fill out the feathers and push you away. We thought about it, and decided that while that's majorly crappy for most people, you can just teleport away. So it's not a huge weakness for you, and well worth the slow-fall effect."

Uber adds, "There are gloves too. We have two kinds for you to pick from since we argued too much over what would be better. There is the thick bullet and stab proof kind, but they are really kinda hard to use, the thickness makes fine dexterity difficult. My personal choice is the thinner set that's only got the stab resistance, but also has the electric proof stuff, so you can grab live wires to help anyone being electrocuted, since that sometimes comes up for heroes."

Hmm, tough choice.

"Downside is if you reach into a fire they'll melt onto your hands, whereas the thicker bullet proof stuff will provide at least a bit of protection vs heat. You'd also have to be careful not to get shot in the hands, but I think it's a small enough target to be safe. Most people train to shoot people in the body, sometimes the head or legs, but hands usually only happen by accident."

Uber laughs and digs around the bag for a second, then holds out what looks like thick winter socks. "Oh and there are bullet proof socks, so you can wear whatever footwear you want, but you will probably need a half size bigger. We can't really do boots with the machine. Cloth slippers wear out really fast, so they aren't worth it for a long-term costume."

I can't react for a few seconds, I'm too amazed at the thought that went into the wings, the whole costume really. I had never realized that I liked going up into the air so much. That they noticed, and figured out a way to get me more air time so I can have a better view, that's actually really thoughtful.

I get my bearings after a few seconds, holding back the warm feelings, reminding myself that they are still villains. Once this is over, I can't trust them unless I can get them doing more heroic stuff. No matter how nice they seem at the moment.

"I think I'll go for the taser proof gloves, in case I have to do fiddly work. I can get a pair of fire resistant gloves like firemen have, and carry it with me in case I ever need it. Or you can make me some?"

Uber nods, so I figure it's as good as done.

"One thing though, pockets. I need lots of them. I'd like to be able to carry lots of random gear with me, so some kind of bag, pockets, or maybe a belt with straps would be good. I'll eventually want to carry some kind of flash-bang, maybe a smoke grenade too, so a bandoleer or something to put those in might be useful for later. I'd only need one of each so I can get a nice variety of effects going, since each afterimage can use it and I will never actually run out if I'm careful. Maybe pepper spray for animals, a flashlight, night-vision googles, something to tie up criminals till the cops get there-"

"Fuck. That's right! Your afterimages can use shit, but it won't actually get used up! FUCK!"

Leet hits himself in the face after interrupting me with a shout. Well, in the mask technically, but hard enough that I think he actually got himself good. He knocks off his mask off with the blow, revealing only a simple ninja mask underneath. That's startling enough that I stop thinking about other stuff that I might want to add to my costume.

Leet glares at me. "Fuck! You have to join us. Seriously! I can make stuff, but my shit breaks, explodes sometimes, and the more I make, the crappier it gets. But you can literally eat your cake, but have it too! You could use gear I make, but the original crap would still be there, and I won't have to remake it, the tech getting more unstable each time. I hate remaking shit!"

Wow, anger issues? He seems more mad at himself than me, but he seems quite unhinged right now.

"We could actually have some consistency for fucking once! Right, you have to join us, I'll do anything, I'll even be a flipping hero. This pretty much fixes my stupid power. I can't believe I didn't fucking realize this sooner!" He awkwardly drops to his knees, grabbing my ninja Gi.

"Please!" It's more like a demand than anything pleading.

I quickly port away, right next to Uber. "Uh, is this normal?"

Uber just face-palms and his muffled voice says, "Sorry. I'm trying to teach him better manners, and to be a little less dramatically demanding, but it's slow going. At least he remembered to say please?"

"Well, he's suddenly my biggest fan, despite not liking me that much the last few days. That's new. Is he serious? It's hard to tell with Leet."

Uber sighs. "I actually _had_ realized the implications of your power combined with Leet's one-use technology quite a few days ago, but figured I'd broach the topic near the end of the filming, after more trust was built. I was going to maybe try to get you to join us more permanently, in exchange for us re-branding as a new hero team with you."

Huh, I didn't know that you could do that, just suddenly switch sides like that. But he seems confident that it can be done, so that's an interesting new possibility I hadn't considered before.

"I figured we could still do some filming on the side, keep Leet happy, and not make anyone wonder where 'Uber and Leet' disappeared to. But we'd also do some heroics with you and maybe find a way to make that profitable? I do like working with you, and figured your technology duplication would make Leet go along with it."

Uber looks at Leet, who is still on his knees and praying at me. "Get up doofus. You are making Ash think you are a weirdo. I mean, you are, but you're supposed to hide it better than that."

He rolls his eyes at Uber as he stands up, brushing the mud off his knees. "Asshole, you knew and didn't tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd do this. Duh. Calm down, and don't crowd him. It's up to Ash, and he gets to have all the time he needs to decide. Focus on the filming for now, ok?"

"Ugh, ok. Seriously though, normally I'd only give you a basic costume for the filming, but I'm totally willing to put in some electronics in yours to sweeten the deal even if it means I have to maintain it constantly. You wanted night vision? I can probably give you all sorts of vision modes and stuff. I got some older visors I can cannibalize from old costumes, stuff that should work with only some errors. I can do you some fancy explosives with lots of fun nonlethal effects, I haven't done much in the explosive area before, so they will actually be pretty error proof."

"Err, I'll think about it, ok?"

"Ok, ok. Sorry."

"Sooo... now that _that_ is out of the way, here Ash, I've folded everything into the bag again. Try it all out when you want, and give me the feedback. I'll get to work designing the bandoleer and pockets."

"You will? Not Leet?"

"Nah, he built the machine and maintains it, but he also built the best user interface in the world to put into everything electronic we ever use. It's what is controlling the platforms, the snitch, the costume machine, all the old robots we used to use, everything. Way better than Windows, Mac, Linux, Ubuntu, and so on. It was his first program, so pretty much no errors in that thing. Very versatile after all the upgrades we've made to it. Heck, even I've made some programs for the UI, it's that easy to use. Anyone who learns how to use it can input costume designs and modify them easily. So I actually do most of the costume designing these days."

"Oh, that's neat. I didn't realize that he'd be able to make programs too. Wait, does that mean he could make an Artificial Intelligence?"

"I probably could, but there is no fucking way I'm going to." Leet shakes his head very hard. "Too dangerous. Especially since I'd already made a few other specialized plug-in programs by the time I figured out my limitation. Any AI I made would probably have some kind of horrible error in it, and kill all of humanity. No way I'm gonna risk that. I pour most of my programming stuff into other, safer areas. I'm not even allowing myself to make a single fucking virus. Course, most of it is _way_ too error prone now, so I've kinda stopped trying stuff. I'm just glad that making small updates to the UI counts as repairing and maintaining the program, and not making new ones."

"Huh, that's kinda neat. Too bad you can't make money off selling that UI, the laws around Tinker tech programs are kinda strict from what I've heard in school." I grab the grocery bag full of costume from Uber and heft it. Definitely at least ten pounds worth of fabric in here.

"Anyways, Uber, I kinda was thinking I'd test out the combat part of the costume here with you? We ended early enough today I still have plenty of energy to burn, and I don't think there's a better way to test out the flexibility and ease of moving in the costume. I go change, and you bandage that cut, we snack, then fight? What do you say?"

He shrugs, "Yeah, sure. I'll be more careful of my arms this time. Oh and if you really want to test your sword skills with no holds barred later, I'll stick a couple of fully protective, stab proof costumes at the gym. Next time we go there, we can see how your sword fighting skills are coming along when you don't have to avoid hitting me, and don't have tons of afterimages to help."

Ooh, I like the sound of that. I've been cheating lot's with my other selves, and I really should learn how to fight better by myself.

"I think you've been picking up the basics amazingly fast, so there's a good chance that with some proper training you could actually be good at it in a few months. Right now, its mostly the sheer numbers helping you along, but if you can ever beat me one on one, we'll know you are ready to use it in a real fight against other capes."

He thinks for a second and adds, "Although swords are a bit on the lethal side of weapons, so once this ninja film is done, you might want to switch to some other kind of weapons training. I can help you learn anything that exists, so I don't really care what you pick. But if you want to be a hero, you should probably think carefully about what message your weapon sends."

"Hmm, you might be right. I'll think about that, thanks. I'll go change, and be back in a few min."

Porting away to the depths of the forest, I ponder the question. But most weapons are designed to kill and be lethal right? So how would I find one that suits me, and lets me be a hero? I don't want to be cutting the heads off of criminals, that would ruin my hero chances for good, not to mention that killing was pretty wrong. I'd have to be pretty desperate to resort to that. Maybe something blunt?

Oh well, I'll research that later. Time to try out the new costume. It's incredibly chilly when I finally have the ninja outfit off, and I'm pretty much naked save for panties. I hurriedly pull on the first layer, it stretches a bit, but it's a pretty close fit, so not much stretching needed. It's actually pretty warm, and kinda fuzzy soft, so that's nice.

Swapping socks out, I give my old ones a good sniff out of curiosity, ew! I guess all this working out has been making them a bit smelly. I've never had feet problems before, but I might have to start putting that foot powder stuff in my shoes if I keep doing this. Or maybe the new Tinker tech fabric will prevent that? I'll see in a few days.

Although I really should request a few pairs of my costume, so I can wear one while the other is being washed. Hmm, actually how will I wash it? Home laundry is too risky. I guess I could go in costume to a laundromat, and use theirs. I'd get stared at, but at least it wouldn't give away my identity. Hmm... Maybe Uber and Leet have a washing machine I can use? I'll have to ask Uber later.

Over layer of pants first. It's stiff, but hopefully some of that goes away with time and use. The knee does feel thinner and more bendy than the rest, so while it's tough to put on, I can walk in it just fine. Socks, then the stretchy ninja slipper-shoes over that. Uber's right, I've only been using these for a week and they almost have a hole already. Luckily I already have good boots. I didn't bring them today, so I'll have to see if they fit later. This thicker fabric has an odd texture, a kinda wavy pattern, like lots of fine lines almost touching but not quite.

Getting the coat on isn't too hard. Again, pretty stiff. The design is kinda cool, sorta military style, but sleeker. There's a double row of buttons, plus a zipper hidden inside, it probably won't come loose easily. There's a collar that turns into a long scarf that I can wrap around my lower face, and the peaked hood has some zippers and buttons on the inside to let me zip it securely down around my head, so no wind can blow it back and off.

I figure out that the scarf part should be outside the hood after doing it wrong the first time and realizing that there's no room for it all inside. There seems to be a few straps to hold the scarf in place, so it won't come loose. Not sure I like it, since it still seems like something a bad guy could grab, but I'll test it first and see. At least my vision is a lot more free than with the helmet.

The feathers feel different than the rest of it, light and silky. They are attached at two spots on either side of me. There is this flap of fabric under both arms, connected to my sides. It folds neatly when my arms are down, but if I stretch them out to the sides, they unfold easily into what looks like mesh of some kind. It seems to restrict my arm's motion a bit. I can't stretch them quite as far upwards as normal, but I don't think it's that far off my normal range of movement. If it gets too annoying, I'll ask them to make the new version with a slightly longer mesh flap.

It looks like air is supposed to flow through the mesh and into the feather tubes that seem to be attached to it. I wonder if it will be a problem, the incoming air only coming from between my arms. I'll have to make sure my arms are stretched out as far as they can go when I test this. But the mesh seems to go all the way to the wrist, and uses the full length of the coat all the way down to my knees, for air collection, so it's probably fine. I'm pretty light after-all, I bet this wouldn't work as well for someone big like Uber.

Hmm, looks like the inside of the coat has some straps and buckles by my legs that I'm supposed to use? There is one for my chest too. I think it's to keep the coat firmly on me when I'm falling. Otherwise I bet the coat would try to open up or slide around, and that would ruin the air collection of the mesh and feathers. I strap myself in. It's not that uncomfortable, but it feels like I'm wearing an overly elaborate Halloween costume.

I port back once I'm confident that everything sits right. Uber is already bandaged and eating. "What do you think?" I hold my arms out and spin slowly.

Uber nods approvingly, "Nice, it's a bit starkly black now, but once we get a colour scheme going, it will look fantastic. The details will really pop then. Hmm, the scarf parts not looking the best, looked cooler in concept sketches. You should let the end dangle more."

"Hell no. That's just asking for someone I'm fighting to grab the end of it and try to swing me around. I've watched cartoons ya know. I don't want to be one."

"I guess you're a bit more concerned with practicality than image huh? Should have figured. I'll come up with something better looking and safer for the head part in the final version then." He hands me a sandwich and I go eat.

I take the time to savor the food, it's nice of them to always be providing the meal, so I think I'm gonna make a fancy lasagna for us all to eat for the last day of filming. Not that the sandwiches are bad, but they deserve a treat for not being villains for a few weeks. (I've been checking their website, and the news too, just to make sure of that.) I know my mom's lasagna recipe is amazing, so it's sure to make a good impression.

Leet is hunched over, busy typing on his laptop the whole time, munching on his own sandwich and spewing crumbs all over the poor thing. I would hate to be the one to clean his keyboard. Gross.

As Uber and I get ready to fight again after the very welcome snack break, Leet keeps mostly ignoring us, only looking up occasionally. Uber nods at me formally as we stand across each other in the clearing, then we start to spar. Since I'm testing my range of movement, I don't make too many selves. The more I have, the less room I have to move.

I dart in from one side, and he parries my blade. His longer sword gives him the reach advantage, and I'm not good enough with my shorter blade to use its better speed and control against him. He slashes at another self coming at him from the front, and this time to my surprise, the blow is more like getting hit with a stick. I still dissolve that self out of surprise, but the self coming from behind misses hitting Uber in the legs as he steps forwards, spinning towards me and making me almost hit my first self.

We all pull back as Uber hesitates, "Hey, I didn't actually hurt that one did I? You should have protection from cuts this time, or did the costume not work?"

I pause, and the newest self replies, "I'm just too used to taking the hit and dissolving that image. Forgot that it won't get sliced up now. Lets try that again."

Again, we rush in. This time as I take a stinging hit, I grin and keep attacking with that self, pushing him back. That's new. Normally he kills me fast, and I don't get the chance to press the attack. I'm starting to like this costume quite a lot and I move in from the sides to take advantage of this. Uber is distracted by my blade and just as the first self dissolves from the time limit, I get him with one self, as the other is blocked.

The sting of the hits is a bit annoying, somehow it hurts a bit more than just getting cut. But I push past it, trying to teach myself to ignore the pain. Pain is only a teaching tool, to help us not get hurt or killed. Since I'm not actually getting hurt, not permanently, it's useless and not needed. My selves actually last the whole time limit now, and it makes a big difference in how I fight.

Uber is hard pressed to defend himself, and his costume soon runs out of fake blood under the first layer. I'm very careful to only strike low most of the time, so he never gets overwhelmed enough to get hit in the arms again. I still feel bad about that.

I keep getting hurt, but now Uber is resorting to more martial arts, less swordplay. Somehow this is almost worse than when he was just cutting bits off and stabbing me in vital areas.

I get my knees broken four times before I learn to always keep them bent a bit to stop that. My arms get pulled into painful grips, sometimes broken if I struggle too much, as I'm used as a shield against myself. I try to figure a way out of them, but quickly give up and just end up dissolving any selves caught like that.

I get flipped onto my back more times than I can count. It usually knocks the breath out of me and hurts quite a bit when a random rock digs into my back. Once it's in just the right spot to make me lose all feeling in my legs. I can sometimes use this position to kick out at him, forcing him back, but most of the time he's too far away by the time I kick. It takes too long to get up from the ground, forcing me to do another premature dissolve every time it happens.

After a good ten minutes of this, I call out, "Cut!"

"Cut?"

I'm breathing a bit more heavily than normal after a fight, I guess sticking around the full five seconds instead of only two or three makes me do more physical work overall.

"Seemed appropriate. I've been hearing that a lot lately."

"That was fun. I had to do more close contact moves this time, you being stab proof is annoying."

He wipes some sweat off with a rag, and sits down on a nearby fallen tree. "I'm proud of you Ash, you figured out how to counter one of my moves all on your own! Hopefully you can remember to keep those knees bent in future fights."

"Yeah, but you have to show me how to get out of that arm hold, that one is annoying."

"First I'll show you how to do it. Countering it comes later. You never know, it could come in handy if you ever can't port away from someone. Gotta plan for the worse case scenario. But that's for another day I think. First, how's the costume?"

"Right. It's a bit stiff in the arms, especially by the shoulder. Not as much movement range as I'd like. I don't think it's the feather mesh's fault, although I noticed it won't let me reach directly above my head, but I think it just needs to be a bit thinner there, maybe a bit larger too? I think the end of the sleeve should be a bit narrower to go under the glove, or wider to go over, right now it matches too well, and just keeps bouncing off it. Plus you actually got a cut through once on the wrist cus of it, overlapping layers seems to be the way to go. It works well for the coat and pants."

"Ok, good point, I'll definitely fix that. Aabout the thinness issue for the joints, maybe make it thinner, but have a loose flap over it that hangs over the vulnerable part?"

"I don't know, but it definitely has to be a bit more flexible somehow. Oh and the coat needs a bit more give around the waist or hips? I think I need to bend a bit more there. Maybe make it a tad wider. Actually, making everything a touch wider might help with the shoulder issue too. Especially since I'm trying to gain muscle now, and if that starts working I might need the extra room by the time I'm ready to go out heroing proper."

Uber looks like he's making mental notes, already thinking of how to fix the problems, visualizing the changes, so I wrap things up.

"Legs seem fine, it's a bit stiff, but I don't think I'll ever be doing high kicks. If I ever start, it will have to get thinner, but for now it's fine. That seems to be about it really. You already know about the head thing. I like that there's more vision range compared to my helmet, so more is good. I'm sure you have figured out by now that if I can't see it, I can't port to it."

"Yeah, that part is obvious enough once you do some research on teleporters and see you fight. I'll see about the movement thing, maybe up it all a half inch like you suggest. Although I doubt you will gain much muscle, not enough to seriously affect the costume. You seem like the lean type, and you'll probably just end up looking like a corded whip once I'm done with you. I had the right genetics for this mass, but if you don't have it, it's not gonna work without steroids, and that's a majorly bad idea."

"Hmm, you might be right on the genetics bit. Still, I'm gonna try all the same. I'll do more testing in the next few days, see how the falling thing works for me. If I never show up again, it means you suck at parachute designing." I tell him teasingly, laughing at the joke. After-all, I've survived falling without a parachute, well, the self that stayed on the ground did. I don't see how one could make it worse.

Uber laughs with me and collects the blades, inspecting them for bad cracks and doing expert blade guy things with them. "Man, I'm gonna have to replace my sword soon, too many notches and nicks. Yours of course looks almost as good as when I gave it to ya the first time. Your power is such bullshit Ash."

"Says the bullshit expert!"

"Hah, if anyone is bullshit, it's me!" Leet pipes up. "Anyways, you two done having your little brotastic moment and fighting and shit? I gotta go edit this stuff and restock the fabber fluids. Plus, Uber you still need to still find the family that's gonna act in the Ryu family death scene in a few days. Oh and for the next major fight scene at the end, you should include a few of those kicks, that looked sweet. Obviously Ash, that means your afterimages will have to let him break their legs, but it's a small price to pay for gloriousness." He somehow says this with a straight face.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Let me pack up the cooler and trash. It's not polite to toss litter around a beautiful spot like this. Well... Ok it's not pretty now, but I'm sure it's beautiful come spring. Still, it's bad for the environment."

"Ugh!" Leet just sounds disgusted, and sits down on the floating platform, slouching and beckoning the snitch over to himself.

I help Uber pick up trash before I go, then put my old ninja costume in the grocery bag for them to take back with them since I'm getting a new one for filming next time. Out behind us, the sun is low on the horizon, almost behind the hills and far away mountains already. Darkness is already claiming the city, shadows stretching and looking more like bars on a cage, or twisted skeletons of the objects they represent.

I can't wait for summer, when the sun won't set until eight pm, and the heat just wraps you up. It makes the beach seem like the best place in the world to be, with it's strong steady breeze and the cry of seagulls. Walking along the boardwalk, eating ice cream with friends. I miss that. I even miss Emma. I'm about to turn away from the city to say goodnight to the guys, when I see a bright spark of light appear, flying up into the air over the city.

A cape, it has to be! "But which one?" I muse out loud.

Uber seems to have heard me, because he walks over and peers out at the city beside me. "I think that one is Purity. Lady Photon has a much yellower light, and its not as strong. I've seen them fighting before, but it's easier to tell if you see them next to each other, I could be wrong."

"Huh, I wonder what she is doing?" As I say that, the spark of light seems to reach the top of its arc, now heading down to the center of the city.

"Oh crap, she might be attacking something downtown."

"Nothing we can do about it Ash."

"You might not be able to, but I can at least go there, see if I can get some civilians away and safe. I might be able to distract her with afterimages."

"You really want to go now? You aren't even a hero yet, you haven't trained or prepared for it."

"I... I could put it off as long as I didn't see any crime near me, I'm not gonna go out looking for trouble until I'm good and ready. But I can _see_ this, I _know_ about this. And it's gonna bug me if I don't go. If I hear on the news later that there were casualties, I'll wonder if I could have saved even just one by pulling them out of rubble or shielding them from a blast with an afterimages body."

I take a deep breath, and turn to Uber, resolute and certain, but terrified too. I look him in the eyes. "I have to go, to at least see if there is anything I can do. I'm not an idiot, I'll be careful. And later, if you guys really want to be heroes with me, to change our futures together? We'll find a way for you guys to come with me next time. Maybe a one use teleportation device I can use over and over again, pull you guys to wherever I am, or something else like that."

"Sounds like a plan. Good luck Ash." He does that guy thing of chucking me on the shoulder, but at least he is careful not to hit too hard.

I nod and turn back to the city, porting away. Rushing to get to the center of town. As I get closer, the rise of buildings around me stops me from seeing Purity's glowing aura of light. I start to go to the tops of buildings, getting a better view, but it's hard to get more than a glimpse of her light now and then. Finally I am downtown after barely a minute, and I see her floating in front of the PTR building. Oddly enough, she is not attacking. Just floating patiently there, a foot off the sidewalk, talking to one of the outdoor guards. Well, this is odd, but it's much better than chaos and destruction.

I risk teleporting in closer, hiding in the alley between two buildings. I can see Glory Girl fly down, some girl in white robes held in her arms. The girl is gently put down, and I can see that it's Panacea. She stands up shakily, adjusts her robes and walks up to Purity, greeting her with a nod. I'm still too far away to hear anything, but everyone's faces look grim. (Well, I can't see Purity's face due to the light she emits, but Glory Girl and Panacea look grim, along with the security guards, so it's assumed.)

Seeing as good capes are now here, I decide to risk asking someone what the heck is going on. I port in a self near to Glory Girl who is shooting dark looks at Purity, quickly sending out another self ahead in case I get attacked. "Hey, so uh, what's going on?"

Glory Girl starts and whirls around, looking at me angrily and stepping in front of her sister protectively. I'm hit by an aura of adoration, admiration and awe. It's sudden and staggering, but surprisingly enough, it's not as bad as I thought it would be from reading her PHO page. It probably helps that my other selves are too far away to get hit by it, so only one third of me is in awe of her. Handy side effect, I never realized that my power might give me protection from mental effects.

I hold my hands out to the side non-threateningly and ask her, "I kinda thought when I saw Purity flying downtown that I'd have to help pull people out of the rubble or something, but this is looking rather peaceful. Whats going on? If it's something private I'll butt out, I'm just trying to be a good cape."

Glory Girl relaxes and the aura fades away. She tells me tersely, "Endbringer. Simurgh is heading down, aiming for somewhere in Australia."

Well shit. I guess that explains why they are here. Panacea is probably going to heal people, and the other two will fight her. I shudder and don't bother sending out more selves, they won't be fighting each other tonight, not with an Endbringer on its way.

Panacea steps forward and touches Glory Girl on the shoulder gently. "Sis, you should go. You know you aren't allowed to fight it for another few months, I can explain to the new cape. He probably won't be fighting, but if he is, we'll need the time to brief him."

Glory Girl sighs, and readjusts her tiara nervously. "You sure Ames? You know I worry."

"I'll be fine. You know they keep me far away from the front lines. Go."

Glory girl obeys her sisters order reluctantly, looking over her shoulder for one last glare at Purity before flying off.

"Sorry about that, she's a bit overprotective."

"That's ok. I did startle her, plus she has a good reason to worry." I spend a few seconds thinking, sending out a full cascade into a shadowy alley away to help me decide. Do I go home, leave them to being heroes, or do I try to join them? There isn't much I can do against an Endbringer, but while I can't rescue other capes, I could help children evacuate.

People always need to leave the city when Simurgh attacks, there is a special triple blast of the warning klaxons in a city that's attacked by her. Shelter doors won't even open because a shelter just traps them in range of her evil singing. Apparently they even assign capes to keeping the roads clear of stalled cars when the Simurgh shows up, just so that people can leave faster. Everyone is told that if they have room in the vehicle when they are leaving, they will get fined for not picking up a random passenger and taking them with them. The protocol is to get in a car, go, and take as many people with you as you can.

I could at least spare kids from the chaos, but is that worth risking myself? Possibly dying, or having my mind altered?  
Yes, I decide. I already knew that if an Endbringer ever attacked Brockton Bay, that I'd stand and fight. Or at least help in some way. Another city is no different, the people living there are no less deserving of help. I'll go and get some kids out of there, out of danger. It means revealing that I can teleport with other people, but that's not an important secret to keep. The really important ones are that all selves are me, and my better brain when cascaded. Anything else is just for fun and to practice keeping secrets.

I nod at the two as my other selves melt away, "Can I help?"

Purity floats closer and her soft voice replies, "You can only come to a Simurgh fight if you have a useful power. Usually that means people who are Movers, Thinkers, Blasters, or capes who can heal. But there are other abilities that would be allowed. Mere Brutes are useless for anything but holding the perimeter, that task is assigned to local capes who are already there. Strangers are rarely useful as well. Often the monster uses a Tinkers technology against us, so we minimize that as well. We try to limit the people who fight it to the ones who can actually do something, as the risks are too great otherwise."

She uses some strange terminology I'm not familiar with, I'll have to ask Uber later if he knows what she is talking about. Stranger, Thinker, Mover?

"I know you kinda just appeared, but was that a Stranger ability, or teleportation?" Panacea asks. There's that 'stranger' term again.

"Oh, it's teleportation. It's limited, but I think I'll still be able to help a bit. I never realized that there would be restrictions on who can go."

"Transportation to the fights is limited, especially if there is little warning. If it happens in your city, you can try to help if you can leave the area before the time limit, but most capes are advised to flee the Simurgh and help others flee. Out of town capes who can't get to the fight themselves, they are screened a bit more thoroughly. Will you be able to go there yourself if you have the location?"

"No, I'm afraid it's good for in a city, not so good for around the world. I was thinking I could help get people out of the city being attacked, so there are less who are in danger, or have to go through quarantine?"

"That will be useful, but why not rescue hurt capes? If you bring them to the hospital I'm going to be stationed at, it would be very useful."

"Uh, limitations. There are few capes I'll ever be able to rescue, sorry. It's kinda a weak power."

"Oh, that's ok. No-one can pick their powers, it's what you do with it that really matters." Panacea smiles at me reassuringly.

"Indeed. Another factor that you should know is that we usually get sent in to attack in waves. Generally there are four waves, but the Thinkers may sometimes advise us to use fewer or more. It is hard to predict what the Simurgh will do, but more oblique predictions can still be made. Everyone is limited in the amount of time they are allowed to fight, so if we did not restrict attackers, then there would be no-one left by the end of the fight. There are Thinker capes who will asses each new cape, and assign them a limit on the time they can spend in its presence."

Ok, that's good, I'll know exactly how long I have before being twisted into a ticking time bomb of evil.

"Most ordinary people have a limit of around fifteen minutes at average exposure. Some capes have more or less because of their powers. The armband you will get will monitor how much exposure you get, and count down how long you have. If you are too close to the Simurgh, your timer will count down faster, slower if you are at the edge of her range. If you should ever exceed your limit, your armband will explode and kill you. It cannot be removed for the duration of the fight, and attempting to do so will also cause it to explode. To get an armband, you have to sign a waver form, acknowledging that you know the risks."

I feel a sudden chill at Purity's words. This is serious. If anyone spends too long near the Simurgh, they will die, not by her hand, but by our own side. That's how horrible she is, how terrified she makes the world.

"You will need to get assessed right away. They will not give you the communicator armband until you have been told your limit and signed the forms. To prevent capes from sneaking in to fight and coming out mad, you have to report any cape without an armband in the area, and after fifteen minutes, any capes in the area are not allowed to leave, or they are killed on sight. We will have militarily personnel gathering around the affected city to help erect barriers and form a blockade."

I nod, it's harsh, but it makes sense.

"The armband will usually assign you a time to go fight, however since you will be rescuing civilians instead of capes, you should just go in as soon as possible. The less time the civilians are exposed to the scream, the better. You will be shown a place to deliver them, and once the standard fifteen minute time limit has been reached, any further rescued civilians will have to be detained for assessment by Thinkers. They will be the lucky ones, they will be assessed right away, and usually set free, compared to the months long waiting process and therapy mandated for all others."

"Wow, that's a lot to take in. Scary too. Do you guys already have your armbands?"

"We do. The armbands are set to notify us whenever there is a new attack, usually through a phone call. Only the capes who plan to be at every fight possible are allowed to keep them after an attack is finished. Dragon is in charge of the communications system and she will know if they are abused, or kept with no intention of returning. They are not souvenirs." She ends sternly, like an angry mom telling me not to break a fancy toy or I'll get hurt. Given that the armbands that are abused might just explode, that's a fairly accurate impression.

I gulp a bit, mostly because she is a bit intimidating, even when being nice. Mostly because the entire situation is starting to make me regret ever feeling the urge to help. My first time out as a hero, and it's an Endbringer fight. I clearly have gone mad. "What about Glory Girl? She can fly but she isn't coming?"

"Oh, right, we forgot to say that part." Panacea pipes up. "As another protective measure, everyone needs time to recover from their last scream exposure, so while the other Endbringers are ok to fight every time, you have to wait at least six months between Simurgh attacks. So since Vicky fought Simurgh last time, she has to skip this one. It usually ends up being that you fight it every second time, unless they change their schedule. Even the capes who are just healing and staying back are told to skip, just in case."

"Oh, it's a bit odd that you don't go at the same time as your sister." I muse aloud.

Panacea just looks a bit uncomfortable and says, "My whole family goes on the other shift, but this one is better for me. The other one has some of the other healers, and it's not fair for this shift to have less."

Right. I doubt that's the whole story, but it seems reasonable enough. I drop the subject and just look out at the city silently. Lost in thought like the other two, it seems to be a common theme with those who wait to go fight something truly horrible. There are an awful lot of protections and restrictions just to fight one Endbringer. I just kinda thought people showed up and did their thing, but this is organized down to the last detail by the sounds of it.

Although when you are dealing with a monster that can literally mess with your mind, turning you into a walking time bomb who might hurt and kill hundreds or thousands of people? Given that every time somebody slipped through the quarantine, a few months or years later they would end up doing something horrible and unthinkable? It's probably wise to strictly limit anyone who fights her. A cape that goes crazy is much worse than a regular person, they have a much wider scope for damage and destruction. One Tinker was trying to invent a clean energy source, and then the Simurgh turned him into Mannequin, a member of the Slaughterhouse 9 who takes pains to go after anyone who looks like they might try to better the world.

They say that fights with Simurgh might have the least casualties, even accounting for the widespread long term acts of terrorism. But they always took their toll in the mind and hearts of everyone else. The paranoia, mistrust, and fear of those exposed. The stupid laws passed to try to mitigate the damage, with panicked voters ignoring common sense in favour of hate and fear. The inner dread and turmoil, that you or someone you know might be turned against the world, against the very people you love.

No-one wants to think that they might be changed, that their actions might not be their own, that they might be twisted, warped, and yet never realize it. When the Simurgh first showed up, she ruined an entire country. Pretty much everyone in Switzerland was killed in an effort to stop them from their madness. From affecting others, and spreading it.

They didn't know that she was evil at the time, when she first showed up. So the whole world watched for something like three days, to see if she would be another Scion, or if she'd be something else. People approached, she even communicated with them some. Not talking, just gestures. Interacting might be a better word. And when we thought things would be okay, that she might be another Scion, she made a move. The entire population of the city around her, with all the people who had come to talk with her and research her, they went mad. Nuclear power plants started to overload, radioactive dust blown around, buildings demolished, the usual Endbringer evil.

But the worst part was the aftermath. Promising scientists killing themselves weeks later, a good cape assassinating the President of Switzerland. The newly elected leader causing a war. Chain reaction after chain reaction. She took one of the strongest, most civilized countries in the world, and reduced them to nothing but a cautionary tale.

Now she was back for yet another round, and this time I was going to help people get away from her. Rescue them from torment and horror. Because no-one deserves that. There's a reason why even villains help fight the Endbringers. Why Purity, the cape who belongs to the E88 (a racist organization full of skinheads), is welcome and wanted right now. And why when people like her get caught committing crimes, they are given lighter punishments than normal in exchange for helping against the much more horrible Endbringers.

Capes who commit horrible crimes but don't help? They go to the Birdcage, a place no-one can escape from. The perfect prison, a prison for life. If they won't help, they don't get leniency. I don't know how any of them can justify not helping if they are capable of it. Even me, a girl who can barely teleport anything bigger than a small child, even I am going.

I bet Shadow Stalker, Sophia, I bet she never goes to fight Endbringers. She is too selfish to risk her life fighting. She's a bully, not a hero. I'm going to be better than her, in every way that I can be.

The door near us suddenly opens, Miss Militia steps out and nods at us. "Our ride will be here soon, we have just confirmed that the Simurgh is targeting Canberra. I'm told that Strider will take us to the nearby staging point, Queanbeyan Park, very shortly. It is an ideal spot. There are multiple medical facilities in the area as well as the fact that it is on the edge of the city, well outside of the Simurghs range."

I do my best not to glare at Miss Militia, since I have to get along with the hero's, but it's hard, especially after hearing her tell the Wards that they can't do anything about Shadow Stalker.

She explains further, "Canberra is a very large sprawling city, so that helps with the population control and evacuation, however it's also the capital of Australia which is unfortunate. Hopefully we can nip this in the bud before too many politicians get affected. With luck, Scion will show up, and we can stop whatever it is planning. If it looks like it is heading towards the hospital, we'll try to lure it away while evacuating, but the Simurgh tends to avoid our staging areas, so it is unlikely."

She turns to me and nods pleasantly, "I see we have a new face here tonight, can you tell me your cape name, abilities and what you think you will be best off doing?"

I feel anger that she doesn't remember me, before remembering that my costume has changed rather dramatically since she last saw me.

"Yes ma'am. You might remember me from a few weeks ago? The Messenger guy? I still haven't figured out a cape name, I figured that coming out was more important than waiting till I had a name. I'm coming to help rescue people. They explained all the rules about time limits, armbands, and multiple shifts for fighting. Once I get the time limit, armband, and learn where to drop people off, I'll head right out to save as many civilians as I can in the time limit."

She nods at me slowly, possibly in approval, possibly because she thinks I'm crazy after my little freakout in the PRT basement. I hope it's not the second one. "I see, well I'm glad you still want to be a hero and help people. I'm _very_ sorry for what happened."

She changes the subject awkwardly. "I see you got a very professionally done costume. I like the wings, a much more interesting cape than most people get, if they go for one."

"Oh, thanks, a friend made it for me." I babble. Crap, I shouldn't have said that. Why did I say that! Now they know that I know someone who makes costumes from Tinker fabric! Well, maybe they won't think its special fabric, maybe it looks like normal cloth? Well, that's what I get for suddenly being interrogated by Miss Militia right before an Endbringer fight, and not having multiple selves up for thinking.

"Looks pretty fancy, it's not every day that you see DragonHide fabric. Good friend to have. If the Protectorate could, we'd outfit every one of our capes with it, and I have no doubt the PRT would do the same with their troops." She chuckles and I'm inwardly panicking.

Crap! Apparently this fabric even has a name. (A badass name.) And is recognizable to someone as highly trained and awesome as Miss Militia. I guess this stuff does have a pretty distinctive look to it, so it makes sense. Does the name mean Leet stole the formula from Dragon? Or is it called that because mythological dragons are tough? I'm gonna have to interrogate Uber when I get back.

My thoughts are interrupted by a man in a sleek blue and black costume appearing suddenly in front of the PRT building. He nods briskly, tipping his cap at us, and asks, "This everyone?"

"Yes." Miss Militia replies.

Without any further ceremony, we are all suddenly in a sunny park. The man who is presumably Strider looks at his armband once, and disappears again.

"Lets move, so he has space to return." Miss Militia orders us, and Purity flies off to join a cloud of other flying capes. The rest of us jog away, and Miss Militia takes the lead, looking at her armband a few times along the way after muttering into it. Lots of capes are appearing in the park, it seems to be the destination for teleporters. Fliers are arriving every second, streaking in from all corners of the sky. At a certain point, Panacea turns to walk left down a street, looking at her armband, while Miss Militia heads straight towards some tables and capes milling about, forming themselves into a few lines.

Upon looking back over her shoulder and seeing me hesitate, Miss Militia calls back to me, "This way Messenger, I'm taking you to the evaluation tables."

I soon join a line and wait nervously, Miss Militia having disappeared into the crowd after escorting me here. As I wait, a tall sign saying 'New capes over here!' is pulled up by a flying cape, and hammered into the ground with a super strong fist. Probably an Alexandria package, flight and strength.

In less than a minute, I'm at the head of my line. The crowd behind me is twice as long as when I first joined, looks like I beat the rush. The frumpy looking guy wears a very basic costume, a domino mask and bight red shirt and pants. He looks at me, closes his eyes, and reaches for one of a bunch of jumbled up tokens on the table. He rummages about for a second, then flips one over, revealing a three. He looks a bit surprised, then hands me a form. "Your limit is three minutes, please read and sign this as I set up your armband."

Wow, only three minutes? That's pretty awful. So much for 'the average is fifteen.' I think it over as I hurriedly scrawl 'Messenger' at the top, for a lack of anything better to put in the spot. Actually, if you count each of my selves when I'm fully maxed out, then I might count as getting exposed to the song multiple times, through each self. So three minutes times five selves does actually equal fifteen. Maybe this guy is better at his job than I thought.

This also means that while my multiple selves might help against some kinds of mental attack like Glory Girl's, others are made worse by my powers. So note to self, I should avoid widespread mental attacks, but against individual ones I'm awesome.

I finish filling out the form, and the guy holds out an armband. "Arm please."

He smoothly clicks it closed around my arm in a professional manner, I can hear it lock into place. This is it, an explosive device is strapped to my arm, and every second I delay, more people are in danger.

* * *

AN: Any suggestions for the weapon she ends up learning to use? Given that the Original Taylor did learn to use a baton and some fighting, I figure that its reasonable for her to pick up one weapon skill since she has a capable teacher for it. Uber is replacement Grue! :P

Also, I have realized that the chapter size is starting to balloon out of control. I just couldn't find a good endpoint for this one! I'm going to pretend that it is all on purpose. Clearly I started off with short chapters to lure you in with a promise of an easy read, only to dastardly bury you in words. (Maybe I should use more line breaks?)

Eh, well the next one is gonna be only the Australia stuff, so it shouldn't be nearly this long.

This one took me sooo looong to write guys! *fingers curl up and die* Oh look, dead spiders on the ends of my hands. This is all your fault guys! (Feed me reviews to resurrect my dead, spidery fingers!)


	14. Letter Opener 2-2

I port off to a nearby empty spot, to sit on a bench in the park. The temperature here in Australia is quite nice and warm, but my costume seems to be handling the heat well so far. It's bright and sunny out, but it feels _wrong_. Maybe because it was evening back home? It was cold, soggy, and dark just a few minutes ago, so the change might be messing with me. Or maybe it is because this city is being attacked by the Simurgh?

I try to block out all the other distractions, the multitude of capes moving around purposefully, the flowers and green grass, insects buzzing about. I focus on the armband. It's harder than normal to focus, it's been a long day and there is just so much to see.

A dizzying array of strange costumes and powers swirl around me. But eventually I give my head a shake and drag my eyes away from the crowd. _No more putting this off Taylor!_ I tell myself sternly. _You are going to do this!_

I see a flat square screen that is displaying a satellite map of the surrounding park and some of the city. There are two buttons, the left one labeled 'communicate', the other 'alert ping'. There are words under the map, 'State Name' it tells me.

I press the communicate button, "Messenger." I tell it hesitantly, it feels just as weird as talking to an answering machine. Makes you want to keep talking for no reason.

My name appears on the display, with a yes and no display in the corners over the respective buttons. I confirm it. A timer appears next. One global one counting down from 12:42 minutes, probably for how much time we had till civilians were screwed, and one other set at 3:00 minutes but not moving down yet.

'Verbal global announcements? Y/N?' comes next. Since I don't want to have my armband being loud when I might be trying to hide, I choose N with the right button.

A new message shows up. 'Role?' It asks me. This time the left button looks like it chooses, and the other one scrolls through the options. I go past 'Fight', 'Rescue', 'Shield', and find 'Evacuate'.

Then when nothing else happened, I press the communicate button again. "Where do I drop off rescued civilians?" I ask, hoping this is how it is supposed to work. I think perhaps the guy handing out armbands was supposed to explain things to me, but forgot in the rush. Or maybe I was supposed to have been told this by Purity and Panacea?

I'd rather try figuring it out on my own than ask another cape for help, they all seem so busy, I'm going to get less than three minutes to save people, and since there is lots of time left till the civilian deadline, I can afford to spend a minute to figure things out.

It's probably a good thing I have so little time to act in, I'm pretty tired from all the filming and fighting with Uber. Really was not expecting to fight an Endbringer at the end of the day! I don't think I have much teleportation left in me, so I better make it count. I have to be smart about this, and the worst part is I can't even cascade-think without wasting my limited energy.

The armband responds by showing a little green dot of light in a few nearby buildings. I assume these must be places I can drop off civilians. I'm about to head out, but I re-think that. A better way to do it would be to see if the armband can also mark the schools in the city for me. That way I don't have to waste time looking for kids to save. If it was later in the day I'd have to look for daycare's instead, but I doubt it's even noon yet judging by the sun. Luckily it's Thursday, so school should be in session today.

Hmm, so most schools will be evacuating by bus I imagine, but I just bet that some of them will find their buses not working, or smashed by debris from fighting. Especially close to the center of the fight. Best to focus on there first, since the places on the edge of the city will probably make it out fine. I press the button again, "Can you also mark the locations of schools near the fighting?"

The map expands, zooming out to show more of the city, a few more dots lighting up near the center in blueish purple. There is also one bigger red dot that is moving around, sometimes it disappears, to reappear in another nearby spot. The Simurgh... It must be her. I shiver despite the heat.

Ok, I'll port there as fast as I can, I'll use the main roads for line of sight. Now is not the time to be experimenting with my new wing-cape, so I'll avoid going airborne for now. And... an idea strikes me. I'll go to a drop off point, at the same time!

I've done it before, for short periods of time in tests, and it will help speed up the rescuing. The best part is that it will keep me safe, in case I accidentally get too close to the Simurgh. I would normally say that I can't pay attention to the bracer constantly, but then I realize that I can. Hah! Ok, so maybe my power isn't crappy after all. I take back all the mean things I've thought about it.

I grin to myself and cascade out two selves, each going in a different direction. One heads to a drop-off point, the other to the center of Canberra. Each me looks for a new point to port to, then sends out a self. Then as that one gets it's bearings, the older me dissolves so that a new self can be made. I might have a limit of four when not in a fight, but that's enough to split off into two directions at once, leapfrog style.

I quickly reach one of the nearby drop-off points, and find a good hiding spot that is difficult for any airborne or ground based cape to spot. Don't want to give away my self secret just yet!

Sure, with the sheer number of capes here, some will notice me with their powers, but they probably won't care or really think anything of it. They might think it's odd to be hiding in the safe staging area, but I have a good excuse ready for why I'm doing it. I designate that self as 'Prime', and spend my time with that self staring intently at my bracer while hiding in a clump of thick and thorny decorative bushes just outside a hospital. I track the movements of the Simurgh, wondering what she is doing with every movement, and with every gap when the bracer is not sure where she is.

My porting selves keep going along the main streets, past the stream of people driving, biking, and running away from the city center. Since I'm keeping the other self as the 'Prime' me, these selves will have limited time to act. I'll have to be careful not to waste any time.

At some point early on, I start to hear a screaming. At first I think it might be someone nearby that needs help, but I quickly realize that it's a low noise in the back of my head. The famous scream that drives people insane. It won't stop, and every time I pay attention to it, it gets worse. I try not to focus on it, to look at my armband with that self free from the influence, but it only helps a bit. Each time I have two selves existing at the same time within the screams area, it gets worse, _way_ worse.

I start to come to dread the moments that I'm overlapping selves. I had thought that once I had a stable self ready by the drop-off area I could go up to three to rescue kids, but now that I hear the scream get worse every time I send another self forward? _No way._

I'm keeping it as minimal as possible. I'm tired, scared, and I want to have as little to do with the terrifying monster attacking this city as possible.

I come up to the first school near the center and note that that Simurgh seems to be some distance away. I don't waste time, I am already down to 2:38 left on my timer. I see no cars left in the back parking lot save for one crushed by a chunk of building. It seems to have come out of nowhere, as the area looks relatively undamaged. I check by sending out a quick self, but there is only one dead teacher inside, no-one alive to rescue. No buses here, so hopefully everyone has already left.

I call out loudly at the top of my lungs, "Anyone here? Anyone need help getting away?" Then I send in another self to quickly run inside as I port to the front of the school. After a full eight seconds of searching, I find only one person. Some unconscious skinny guy with long greasy hair is trapped in another crushed car on the other side of the building.

I normally wouldn't have a chance of being able to move him, but it looks like one of his arms is missing, so there's a small chance I can get him out. He's bleeding heavily, but I reach in, manage to touch his arm, and get him out of there with a quick teleport. The guy still trapped in the car jerks awake, and starts to scream, probably from the pain. Oops, I guess touching him made him wake up again, losing an arm and all that blood must hurt. At least it worked.

The new self with the rescued guy was sent out to the hospital, using the line of sight from the me hiding in the bushes. We both appear right next to some ready paramedics with gurney, waiting for flying capes and teleporters to drop people off. I'll have to keep this self as the new Prime, or else the guy will still be trapped in the car. I can still see him there screaming, with the self still in front of the school.

As the old Prime is melting away, my new Prime notices that the guy I rescued is screaming just as badly as the trapped one, but it stops as soon as the school self leapfrogs away towards the next closest school and the guy in the car melts to ash. Then he slumps back into unconsciousness and I stand back to let the medical professionals take over the badly bleeding teenager. Huh, he's also missing most of his leg, ouch. That poor guy got really mangled.

I nod at the medics and port back to the hollow I was hiding in behind the bushes, now that the teen is safely not entangled with me. I once lost a hat playing around with this splitting trick. If I ever managed to lose a person? That would be as bad as killing them.

I shudder at the thought.

I'm approaching another school, this one is much closer to the fighting and has a playground outside in an attached park. Keeping an eye on the armband, it seems like there are a few blocks between this school and the Simurgh. Risky, but doable.

Lots of damage here, rubble, broken buildings, crushed and mangled cars. Not a single intact car actually. I can also see some buses ripped to shreds in the parking lot. Some capes appear, flying towards the Simurgh's location and firing blasts of light in many colours. I can see a few dead capes on the ground nearby, one in a pile of cars that seem to have been growing together into something before the cape tore it apart and died.

I check bodies near me with a quick cascade burst, but accidentally start to pay attention to the screaming as I do so. It's much louder now, but I try not to focus on it and successfully get distracted by how the armband counts down much faster when there are more of me. No-one alive that I can find, the area nearby is pretty deserted so I focus on the school.

Going inside, I see brightly painted walls with murals done in a childish style covering the walls. Lockers and doors are the only thing that interrupts the bright colours. Fuck, looks like really little ones go to this school. Judging by the buses outside, unless they managed to pack most of them away in cars, some kids will still be here. It would be impossible for parents to make their way against the flow of traffic, get here, and rescue their kids.

I check the classrooms fast, but eventually find them all in the gym. There's a handful of teachers and two dozen kids. They seemed to be organizing something, calming the kids down, and probably getting ready to take them all out of here on foot, but at the sight of me, they quickly stop what they are doing.

"Right, I don't have much time, so listen up." I practically shout at them as I port in closer. "I can take the little ones away from here, to a safe spot outside the attacked area, but I can't take adults. You guys will have to find another way out of the area, sorry."

I reach out and grab two kids by the arms, and port them to the hospital, repeating what I did for the mangled teenager. The instant that there is double the number of little kids in existence, the four kids start to scream and wail. Well, that's not good. I really, _really_ hope that they aren't in pain, but at least I'm dropping them off at a hospital? It's the only thing that lets me keep using my power on kids who scream as soon as they get duplicated. What the heck is going on?

The adults are alarmed of course as soon as the kids scream. "What are you doing to them! Get away!"  
"Hey, why can't you take us, we deserve a rescue too!"  
"Stop hurting them!"  
"I don't understand, who are you, what's going on?"

As the kids are safe in the hands of the medics, I warn them, "Got a whole class full of kids, stand by for more of em. None seem to be hurt, but they freak out when teleported, I don't know if it's hurting them or not, sorry."

I make a new self in the gym, melting the other one and dissolving the duplicate kids. The kids in the hospital calm down a bit, but one still keeps crying loudly despite the medics efforts.

The adults seem a bit calmer as the kids disappear, oddly enough. Probably because the crying stopped, and they can at least see that the kids are gone now, presumably safe.

"I can take only two at a time if they are little ones, one at a time for the bigger ones. I'm the Messenger, and I _always_ deliver." I quip at them, hiding my uncertainty and fear with fake reassurance. They don't have much time to get out, so I can't panic them. I have to make them understand that I have this under control, that they have to leave _now_.

To the teachers, it appears that every time I teleport to a new spot in the gym, one or two of the kids I'm touching disappears. Sometimes I misjudge the combined weight of them, and end up not taking one of the kids with me. At least I can't take only half a person. Discrete objects, or nothing. To the medics, I seem to appear with kids, and then disappear, then reappear with more. Each batch upset and behaving oddly for a second or two after I drop them off.

Half the kids are gone by the time the teachers get organized again. "Go, stick together, try to find a working car. Now that I have the kids safe, you should all be able to fit into one. You have maybe ten minutes to get out, so hurry. The Simurgh is... That way."

I point to where the armband shows her, and realize that I hadn't checked it in a few seconds, what with the hospital self being busy delivering kids. It looks like the fight is headed right towards us! Shit!

I port away with two more kids to safely deliver, and keep talking with the self that's about to leapfrog again.

"The fight is headed over here, so go _now_. I'll get the kids out faster if I don't have to explain things to you. Keep going until you can't hear the scream, then keep going for another five minutes after that to be safe."

As soon as I mention the scream I silently curse myself for being an idiot. Now I'm paying attention to it again. It's getting worse and worse, blended with the screams and crying of kids, and other hurt people arriving at the hospital. The single note has morphed into two, each sliding about each other, twisting and writhing in my head.

Disturbed on an incredible number of levels, I force myself to focus past my exhaustion, to shave down the time spent checking that each step is completed, that I don't lose any kids to nothingness, to no longer existing. I can only hope that the assessment the red-shirted guy gave me is correct, and that I'm still ok as long as my timer still has time.

The teachers are running away, but I have to go after a few kids who try to run after them. More selves is exhausting, I'm definitely approaching my limits now. I briefly wonder what I'll do if the Simurgh gets here before I get the last of the kids out. I'll be fucked probably, but I'm not abandoning these kids! I grit my teeth in determination.

Teachers are gone now, and I'm down to three kids left. They are the bigger, heftier or older ones, ones who I'll have to take on their own. I grab a really pudgy one who must weigh at least a hundred pounds, despite probably only being nine or ten years old. The other two look lighter than him, but older.

As he appears at the hospital, clutching his ears and closing his eyes in some kind of shock, I hear tearing sounds and the gym collapses. But not down on top of us, it goes upwards. The ceiling is lifted up by one corner, as gravity seems to reverse, the wave of altered reality sweeping over us. We start to fall upwards, along with everything else that isn't nailed down. "Fuck!" I shout startled, accidentally using all my selves. The medics look at me confused as they herd the kids into one area, away from the worse casualties coming in.

"Sorry, sorry, just uh, problems." I tell them distractedly. Ok, so chaos confuses me and messes with my ability to control each self independently, check. I'm not immune to that sort of thing unfortunately.

I quickly make sure to lock in the saving of the fat kid, then cascade over to one of the other kids up in the air. Luckily I don't have to be able to fly, just to see him. I grab on, suddenly spinning and dizzy as I fall into the sky, twisted around by the force of his spinning. Why is he spinning? I wonder briefly before I'm blinded by the sun as it shines right in my face, but I don't have to be able to see with that self to save the kid.

Hmm, but it _will_ make it harder to get the other one, so I start trying to shield my eyes from the sun, blinking like mad and hoping that my eyes recover fast.

The kid is extra terrified and screaming like crazy as he appears at the hospital, and promptly vomits onto both selves. Ugh. "One more kid to go. Fuck."

I have to pry the kid off me. He clings tight, as if he will fall if he lets go. I realize that he probably still feels like he is falling from his other self. Maybe that's why they all freak out? They probably can't process both sets of sensory inputs at the same time.

My concentration is pretty shot right now, so I don't dare try to teleport away from the kid and leave him behind without making him let go first. I'd probably mess it up and take him with me, back into danger. I'm trying to maintain the balance needed to keep teleporting while exhausted, with constant creepy screaming in my head, and trying to ignore the fact that I'm covered in vomit. I can't undo that or else the kid might be erased from existence, or die. That would be bad, very bad.

Finally he is pried off, just in time for my eyes to get enough vision back that I can send out a full cascade of selves into the sky, one into the bushes, and melt the two that were about to reach expiry, then use that to make two more in the air at random locations. I have no idea if I'm still going up, down, or sideways at this point, nor where the Simurgh might be.

I realize that I've actually gotten to the point that five selves are possible. Despite the bone deep weariness that is starting to fill my mind, I use every self I can. I look around in the air, arms outstretched with half of my selves in the faint hope that some of us might be in the right orientation to slow our fall with the wing-cape.

We quickly make sense of what is going on, as these selves are not half blind from being sun dazzled. Near one self is the Simurgh. _Fuck me_.

She seems human, but fifteen or so feet tall, waif-thin, and unclothed. Her hair whips around her, nearly as long as she is tall and platinum-white. Then there are the wings. She has so _many_. Asymmetrical and illogical in their arrangement, each with pristine white feathers. The three largest wings fold around her protectively, far too large in proportion to her body, even with her height. Other wings of varying size fan out from the joints of others, from the wing tips, and from her spine. Some seemed to be positioned to give the illusion of modesty, angled around her chest and pelvis.

Every movement she makes is deliberate, precise, and laden with meaning.

Each of her wings unfurls lightening quick as she stretches them out to their limits, ignoring the gravitational effects flinging stuff around. The tip of the largest wing rakes through a flying cape wearing orange that has gotten too close, then another one lances through the me closest to her. It went perfectly through the head, killing me instantly and suddenly adding in a new dimension to the fight. The death echo. I didn't normally get it, even when fighting Uber, but she was able to effortlessly kill me, just like that.

My awareness of everything increases, I finally spot the last kid, and I easily replace the self that had died with one that grabs the kid firmly with a death grip, still plunging into the sky upwards. It seems like this entire area is under the anti-gravity effect, and I can see it's edges growing.

It looks like it's centered on some nearby buildings, and is growing every second. Zen-like, my selves process everything, emotion easily pushed aside by the death echo, to analyze, think, and act. I see objects fly up into the air, sometimes curving a bit as the gravity wave reaches loose bits of rock, rubble, and discarded junk.

I clearly make out her face. Her features are delicate, with high cheekbones. Her eyes grey from corner to corner. And _cold_. There was nothing I could point to, no particular feature or quality that could help me explain why or how, but seeing her face made it _harder_ to ascribe any kind of human quality to her. I could see why most capes talked about the Simurgh not as a she, but an it. 'It' was much more appropriate. Another self melts to make room for a new self, as I send the last kid on to the hospital.

The increased awareness brings to my attention that the screaming in my head is louder now. There was a new undercurrent to it, a thread that seemed to point to the sound taking shape, altering subtly in pitch. What had been two warped notes was now shifting between three. And what's worse? It echoed. It burrowed. It sawed at my mind. I see that a cape wearing black below me is cut horizontally in half by a wing, he is still struggling, still throwing strange shadowy darts at the Simurgh. I consider trying to save him next. He might be light enough now for me to teleport with. Panacea is at the hospital, he might survive and even get his lower body back.

The meditative effect that I get from truly dying means I can no longer ignore the screaming in my head. I have to pay attention to it, to everything. Awareness unfolds like a poisonous flower. I panic. I deliberately chose to abandon the cape in black, to give in to my exhaustion and stop.

I abandon the selves that were in the air and leave behind the cape cut in half. Melting down to my safe self, the one newly made at the hospital with the last kid. The kid seems to have made it safely, and I lose the ability to hold the balance, to ride the wave. The sudden quiet makes me realize that there is no more scream in my head, I finally relax.

Safe.

I look down at my armband. 0:17 blinks up at me. I feel cold, a bucket of ice water dumped down my spine. That... that bitch! She... no, _it_ , meant for that to happen. It killed that self, just to be able to corrupt me faster, make me more aware of the scream. Then tempted me with that cape, trying to get me to save him.

Having so many selves, so close to her, it must have eaten up all the time I had left. It had been less than a minute of actually trying to save people, but because I got so close to the center, to where the scream is the most powerful, it took more time away with every passing second. If it was not for the Zen state, I'd vomit right now. Seconds from death.

I look at the kid, clinging to me, shivering, and I smile grimly. I won, I saved some of them, I didn't die.

I ignore the faint guilt at leaving behind that last cape. He's probably dead by now, but it's not my fault. I never had the time to save him anyways.

I carefully pry the kid off me, and apologize to the medics, "Sorry, had a close call with the Simurgh. I can't go back out there for more people, no time left. This was the last kid at that school anyways."

I gesture limply with the arm that has the armband. I feel like I'm letting people down, even if I almost died. Like nothing matters. I barely had any time out there, barely saved anyone. I don't think I can port anymore, not for at least an hour or two. That last burst was it. I don't even know how I'll get home.

"I have no idea what to do now." I think this to myself, then realize that I actually said it out loud.

One gruff man whose arms are covered in blood halfway to his elbows looks hard at me, "If you still want to help mate, ya can. We could use someone to fetch stuff, help move bodies, heck, even some coffee and a washcloth would be nice. This is gonna to be a long day, so if ya ain't going nowhere, stick around and play gopher."

I hesitantly nod at him. "Sure. Let me just go clean this vomit off, probably don't want to touch medical stuff covered in this crud."

I look for a washroom, and try to think. It's easier with my emotions held at bay by my death echo. Twenty-five people. Mostly kids, and one teen who might or might not live. That's going to have to be enough for me. I can't save everyone, I know this logically. My head still feels raw from the Simurgh's screaming. I wonder how long the damage will take to fade away?

I don't know if I ever want to come back again, to fight the Simurgh. That was so incredibly close, and I think that if I hadn't had that backup self, safe and out of her range, then she, no _it_ , could have just killed me. It would have easily been able to end me, and all the selves in range, in an eye-blink. I never even registered that it was attacking until I had already died.

I almost walk into the girls washroom, but remember before I turn into it, and keep walking after a brief hesitation. I'll have to use the men's, another cape could come in at any moment, so it could blow my cover if I don't.

I keep thinking about what happened, worrying it like a dog with a bone.

Because I had an escape route and was careful never to let it lapse, the Simurgh had to try to corrupt me instead. To lure me into killing myself. Heck, it probably could have killed the kids, but didn't. Just so I would stay longer. And that cape, the one cut in half. I doubt it was a coincidence, nothing around her, around _it_ , was ever a coincidence. Sun dazzling my eyes to make me use more selves, to find the last kid? Probably deliberate.

Except of course, how many bad things happen, that we blame on _it_ , actually _are_ coincidences? I did escape just in time, so did it waste all that effort on twisting me, when it had to have known I'd either make it out in time, or else die to an exploding armband? Or was that what it wanted? Was scaring me enough to set something into motion?

Hmm, no, I have to stop speculating like this, I'm just going to get paranoid. I don't even know why I left in time, why I decided not to try for that poor cape. I just have to keep moving forward, do the best that I can.

I start to splash water on my costume. Luckily the vomit seems to not have soaked into the material, and washes off onto the floor easily. Of course, now I've made a mess in the bathroom, so I go looking for stuff to clean it up, along with any trail I might have left walking here.

It sucks that I'm so vulnerable to her scream, but even with less than three minutes worth of time, I can still save people. I just proved it. And I'll be more careful next time, avoid getting too close to her, and keep an eye on my timer better.

I suddenly remember the teachers, running away from the school. I hope they made it, but I doubt it. The wave of reverse gravity was spreading pretty fast. Unless some cape plucked them out of the air... But no, no point in pointless speculation.

I've located a mop and bucket, and proceed to fix my mess. Some male nurses or orderlies come in on occasion, but aside from some odd looks at the cape mopping the floor, they leave me alone. I make sure not to look as they use the urinals, and try not to blush.

The adrenaline is fading by now, I'm moving pretty sluggishly by the time I put everything away. I go to find the grizzled doctor guy.

"Huh, you were gone for a while. Ok, no touching patients, you aren't sterile. Follow me and do what I say. Let me know when ya need a break."

"Ok, got it." I respond a but dully.

I quietly follow him, letting the instructions and busywork take my mind off things. I live in the moment, focusing on the tasks at hand. I'm mostly wheeling carts of stuff from one room to another. Going to fetch boxes of vital items, or delivering trays of bloody surgical equipment to go get sterilized. I get sent around to quite a few places, helping wheel patients to surgery rooms or bodies to the morgue. At some point I realize that it's probably really late back home. The fight with the Simurgh is long over, but that hasn't stopped the flow of casualties. Special sections are set up for cape patients, but I'm not allowed to help with those ones.

I finally start to feel the need to stop a few hours later. I can't keep distracting myself like this anymore, emotions are starting to creep back in, and I'm probably tired enough to actually sleep now. Hopefully without nightmares.

I'm not an actual doctor or nurse, and now that the fight is over, more help is probably coming from nearby cities. Heck, I don't even know how the fight went. Did we win or lose? If we lost we would have had to leave right? So I'm hoping that it was a win. I decide to ask Gabe, the gruff guy I've been taking orders and instructions from the last few hours.

"I'm kinda getting tired Gabe, sorry. It's late back home. What happened out there, did we win?"

"Shit kid, you didn't hear? Naw, we lost. Some kinda Tinker experiment get set off, the entire city center is encased in some bubble of weird gravity that they can't turn off. It exploded out fast at first, but it seems to finally have slowed down and reached its limit. Good thing too, at one point we were worried we'd have to evacuate. You really were out of it huh? We've been gossiping bout it fer hours."

"I was in that gravity effect for a bit, everything was falling upwards. Almost lost the kid I was trying to rescue. I never thought _that_ would be what she was trying to do, it happened in the first few minutes of the fight. It usually takes the Simurgh a while to do anything permanent, right? You said they can't shut it off?"

"Nope, apparently it wasn't bad at first, but then as time went on it got worse, curving in on itself and stuff, trapping people inside. Some spots get so much gravity that they are just flattened and crushed bits of land right now. They're saying that their gonna build a dome over it, to keep things out and the effect in."

"That..." I am stunned. I didn't think we'd lost. Anyone I didn't manage to save, all that time wasted at the first, mostly empty school, and now any kids still in there are probably dead, or trapped till they die. God. And here I was, just going through the motions, trying to put my head back together, pretending to help, pushing gurneys, and handing out boxes of gloves. While people out there were having their lives ruined, their city destroyed. And I was useless.

"Hey, look, I have one more job for you before you go, ok? It's fairly important too."

"Huh? Uh, sure?" I latch onto the thought. Something important to do? Anything to make me feel less like a failure.

"Ok, most doctors have been working for a while now, many already staying on well after their shifts over cus of the emergency. If we ain't gonna fall over, we need coffee, and food. I want ya to go to the big break room, here's the key. Not just anyone can go in this one, so I'm trusting ya, ok? Make up as many pots of coffee as you can, fill the top of a trolley with em. Then grab boxes of food. Fruit, donuts, whatever is there, fill the bottom of the trolley with that stuff. Go round, and hand stuff off to anyone who don't currently got a patient."

I nod, a bit disappointed that it's not sounding as critical as I hoped. But it makes sense, the ones who will make a difference now are the doctors, and we need them able to keep going.

"I need ya to start up in trauma, then down here in emergency, then hand whatever is left off to folks at random I suppose. Once you've gone through a trolley full of stuff, hopefully that will be enough to keep people from passing out. Only do one, and make sure to give stuff to the most tired looking people, alright? Don't take no for an answer. After the trolley, you go on home, ya need your rest too kid."

"Uh, ok. Got it." Coffee, fruit and doughnuts? I guess I could do it. My body was getting tired, but some dregs of my powers had recovered a bit over the last few hours, I figured I could ask around and see if I could find someone who would know how I get back home, while I handed out snacks.

Otherwise I'd ask Gabe if he knew where I could sleep, and try teleporting home around the world tomorrow.

* * *

I find Panacea in the Trauma center while I'm handing out snacks. It's amazingly heartwarming, the thanks and appreciation I'm getting for this simple little thing. These guys devour the food fast, almost inhaling it, and I start to worry that one trolley isn't gonna be enough for even a single area. At least these guys think I'm the best delivery cape in the world. Take that Sophia Hess!

Panacea is looking about as exhausted as I feel, and as soon as she is finished with her current patient, she slumps down into a nearby chair, waiting for the next badly injured person to be brought in.

I push my trolley over and ask her, "Tea or coffee? You look like you need something, and I have some snacks here too. The donuts are going fast, so if you don't grab one now, all that will be left is fruit or cookies soon."

She looks up at me startled, recognizing me after a few seconds. "Oh, you're the guy who showed up randomly. Uh, you know what I mean. You seem to have a habit of doing that huh? Messenger right? Uh, I don't know if I should be taking a break..." She looks around hesitantly.

A nearby nurse grabs a doughnut herself and huffs tiredly. "Nonsense hun, everyone else is taking a break so you might as well too. You've done more work than any _ten_ doctors, so you deserve at least ten snacks they way I see it." She gives a tired grin and sits on the floor next to us, just folding up her legs and leaning back against the wall, eyes closed as she eats.

Panacea gives me a silly little grin, "Well, maybe not ten, but I think I'll have two. I _am_ kinda starving, now that I think about it. Uh, what kind of tea?"

"No clue. They told me to make coffee, but I found a few tea bags in the break room too, and figured it couldn't hurt to have variety, but there was no label."

"Mystery tea then huh? Alright, mystery man, I'll take it."

I keep handing out snacks and pouring out cups of various fluids for a few minutes, till everyone in the area seems to have been fed and watered. Turning back to Panacea, I hesitate, but then decide, fuck it, I'll ask. Nothing to lose. "How do you deal with it?"

"Huh?" She looks at me puzzled, a dull, confused look from the exhaustion.

"Deal with this..." I sweep my hand around encompassing the whole trauma unit. "It's only my first Endbringer fight, and I'm already depressed, overwhelmed, second guessing myself, and feeling useless, not to mention paranoid. Despite me being able to save maybe two dozen kids from certain doom, I feel like I should have done more. And at the same time, I'm also beating myself up for not _wanting_ to do more, for leaving right before my time ran up instead of risking everything to save just one more guy in the few seconds I had left."

Her eyes open a bit wider at my rambling confession, my plea for help, but I continue on, getting it all off my chest.

"I... I don't know if I can deal with this, but I _want_ to keep helping. I want to get better, to learn how to handle this. I figure that since you've been doing this for a lot longer than me, that you'd know how to handle it, how to pull yourself back together after?" She just stares at me, with a funny and unreadable expression on her face for a few seconds.

Getting nervous I try to backpedal. "Uh, I'm sorry if I'm just bugging you, I'll just go if you want me to. I just thought that maybe since you were always coming out to help with things like this, that you'd have some kinda trick that you use to cope?"

The nearby nurse opens her eyes and stops trying to lean against the wall. "Well, I don't know about Panacea here, but most people in the medical profession, or in law enforcement, tend to go through the same traumas as capes, it's just usually more spread out over time. Some buggers go for the drugs route. But drugging yourself up only delays the inevitable, so I don't recommend it. Most of 'em are of course careful never to let it affect their ability to work, and I can't say I blame them for taking the easy way out. I do it myself. Having people die on you, you either learn to shrug it off, or fall apart slowly."

She glances askance at Panacea, taking a sip of her coffee. "But I highly doubt that's the therapy method that her family has picked. Even I've heard of the American New Wave and the attempt to go maskless, so I know a legit group like yours would never approve. Just don't look down on those who do need it, no-one's perfect. And no, by drugs, I don't mean _just_ the illegal kinds. Some do em sure, but plenty of _legal_ ones out there. Personally, every time I have a bad day at work, days like today? I go home, I get blind drunk, and I let my husband hold me as I sob myself to sleep."

She sighs, "But like I said, I don't recommend it. For you young ones, less set in your ways? A good therapist will probably help. That's what maybe a quarter of the folks I know do. With luck, you get to the point that you don't need it anymore, that you're ok. Where you can have bad days, but they aren't the kind of thing that makes you want to give up. Not everyone needs it, but it sounds like you might want one." The nurse shrugs and eats the last bit of her doughnut, licking her fingers.

"That's really all I can tell ya kid. Everything you said? It's normal. Most of us just don't like to talk about it, cus it so damn depressing. You never save enough people to feel like it mattered, you want to save more. But at the same time ya also start to resent them sometimes, resent that they need you, and sometimes you have to say no, I can't save your life ya fuckwit, I've done enough for today. Really, after a sixteen hour shift, it's a miracle some of us don't snap and start killing patients."

She starts to unfold her legs, standing back up again with a grimace of pain. "Speaking of, I'm done my break, time to go back to the grind I suppose. You kids take it easy, don't let a crusty old hag like me get you down. It's not all bad. Moments like this get you down, but there's plenty of good to make up for it. Moments it's worth the pain. I'm just sore cus we lost. Damn cunt, wrecking our city. One day she'll get what's coming to 'er."

"Well, that was interesting." I say to Panacea, eyes still on the nurse as she leaves to go scrub her hands back into sterility. "So I think I'll pass on the drugs thing, and maybe try that therapist. Sounds less... sad. Can you recommend me one?"

"Uh, sorry, I don't really go to a therapist. Although I'm starting to think that if I don't want to end up like her, maybe I should. She sounded so bitter and exhausted."

"Yeah, but to be fair, it _is_ a really bad day for anyone who used to live in Canberra, I can't blame her. You really don't have one? Darn, oh well, I couldn't really afford one anyways, so it's not like it matters much. I'll have to save up for it, seems like it could be useful in preventing bad mental stuff."

"I find it hard to believe that you can't afford it. Even if a friend made the actual costume, the materials cost alone... Even I know that DragonHide cloth is fairly expensive. My costume is only cotton because there's 'no point in wasting money on it when I'm still growing'." She does the little air quotes and uses a voice that I suspect is mimicking her mothers, it sounds like a mom thing to say.

"New Wave is well-off, but not by that much. That's probably why no-one made me get a therapist, plus I don't know if I should get one. I don't want people to think that I'm crazy or anything, but maybe it would be nice to have someone to talk to about the stress."

"Yeah, I hear ya. Oh, but actually everything about the costume was free, even the materials, they made it themselves, sorry. But your is cotton? Really? But you're Panacea, you're special! If anyone deserves free costumes, it's you. No-one's ever gifted you anything at all?"

She sounds angry as she replies in a low hiss, "I can't accept gifts from people I've healed! It might make people think I can be bribed to heal, and I have to remain neutral. I only heal capes, and the worse cases that the doctors approve for me. There's a whole committee process, and panels to determine need, impartiality and everything. Because if I started healing for money, then it won't be as efficient, or fair. There's a lot of bad things that could happen if I did that. It would be like saying money matters, not lives!"

I raise my hands up in defense. "Ok, ok, I get it. Actually that makes a lot of sense. I'm sorry I didn't think about it before I asked that question, but you're right. Neutral, fair and impartial is the only moral way to handle it." She stops bristling and calms down. Sheesh. Note to self, Panacea might have healing powers, but she gets intense when angry. Never piss her off.

"Uh, Sorry. I-"

"Hey, hey, no need to apologize, that was _my_ bad." I interrupt her. "Anyways, I just wanted to thank you, you know, for being nice, and listening to me be depressed, and not laughing."

"Hey, I'd never laugh about that. Sometimes I know exactly what you mean. I do come to most of the Endbringer fights after all. And trust me, the Simurgh scares me the most, and I almost never hear the scream. Can't imagine if I heard it every time." She shudders visibly at that thought.

I turn to look her directly in the eyes and confess to her in a low voice, "I don't want to _ever_ let the Simurgh have control of me. I got really close to it today by accident. I was seventeen seconds away from running out of time and getting exploded by my armband. And it tried to tempt me into staying too long. I didn't have my eye on my armband, and there was this cape cut in half, and I might have been able to save him, to bring him here. I almost went after him. If I had, I'd be dead, or worse."

Taking a deep breath, I breath in, then out. It feels nice to confess my fears to someone, it's probably the closest I'm coming to a therapist for a while, unless I get some cash somehow. She nods at me, encouraging me to continue.

"I'm terrified that next time, it will know me better and win. I'm terrified that I'll get changed by exposure to it, because my power has some odd side effects that make me more vulnerable to the scream. I got told by the assessor guy at the booth that three minutes is my maximum limit at average exposure. Three. That's almost _nothing_ compared to most people. It terrifies me. And today I was so close to the Simurgh that I could look into it's eyes. My time was pretty much halved by being that close to it."

"That's awful! Um, sometimes I fear what she could turn me into too. She really likes taking out the capes who try to do the most good, turning them evil. I'm glad that I'm not a combat cape, that I don't even have to get close. The sheer bravery needed to go out there, to save people, knowing that she might get you no matter what you do? I could never do that."

I shrug, "I dunno about that, you seemed pretty fierce a few seconds ago when I impugned your honor." I grin widely at her, my scarf is low enough that she can probably see part of it.

She fake gasps, "You cad! I'll impugne you!"

I can't help but laugh out loud, "I don't think that's how you use that word."

"Bah, I'll use the word however I want to. It's my word now."

"Alright, alright, but oops, uh, I just realized I still have trolley snacks to deliver before they get cold. I maybe should get going on that. Heck, I still have to figure out how to get home across an entire planet. Half the reason why I'm still here helping pass out snacks, is cus I'm stranded."

"Oh no! We never told you about how to get home did we!" She looks genuinely dismayed, so I can't get mad at her even though I am pretty tired.

"Ok, so the big teleporters, the ones who bring people into a fight, they tend to not have energy left for taking people home after fights, so Dragon does it. There's usually not enough warning to assemble her full fleet of transports for the start of a fight from all the corners of the world, but by the time its over? Yeah, there's plenty to go around."

That makes sense, Dragon is known to have a huge fleet of Tinker-Tech vehicles all around the world, ready to respond to trouble.

"You just use your communicate button to request going home, and then the armband will tell you when the next one is, and where to go. Sometimes you have to wait a few hours, as she tries to be efficient with how many people go on each one. Once you go on the aircraft, the armbands unlock. Then before you leave, you can return the armband if you want, or tell her you are keeping it so you can know about the next one. Oh and you can put a phone number in the armband so it will call you, and you don't have to keep an explosive near you all the time. I don't think many people ever carry the armband around with them outside of these fights."

Yeah, I wouldn't carry around an explosive device either. I can't imagine anyone sensible would.

"Oh, um, I guess if you wanted to leave but not by her transport, you could ask her to unlock the armband remotely, but her vehicles do it automatically so most people just go home that way unless they are a teleporter or super fast flyer."

"That seems pretty simple. I should have thought of asking the armband. It did tell me where things were during the fight when I asked. Duh." I playfully slap my forehead.

"Thanks, that solves that problem. I better go deliver these snacks. Thanks again for all your help Panacea. I appreciate it."

"Amy, call me Amy. It's not like my name is a secret anyways, and I like you 'Mystery Messenger Man'. You deliver baked goods and mystery tea, what's not to like?" She smiles playfully.

"Hahaha, well then I'll see you around Amy. If you are off soon maybe we'll get the same ship home, but I get the feeling that there's still lots of hurt people, so probably not."

"Nah, I stay long enough to fix up all the capes, and the worst normal cases, but I'd never leave if I waited for the patients to stop coming. There's usually a point where the exotic problems stop showing up, and once everything is manageable by the regular doctors, I usually call it quits, or pass out."

She makes a silly face at that, showing that she's obviously exaggerating. I'd feel awful if she ever literally passed out from overworking herself, so it's good to know she's only joking about that.

She gets more solemn and serious as she goes on to explain, "This time around it seems like there were some interesting fungus type creatures that tried to absorb people, along with some cars that merged into giant robots, probably something set in motion by the Simurgh just in case the gravity thing didn't work. So once I finish the last few fungus cases and get them free of that, I'm probably free to go home."

"Oh, huh, that would explain the people I sometimes saw in the emergency room with what looked like mold growing on them."

Crap, and I told the teachers to go find a car. I really hope they made it out and I didn't condemn them to death by transforming car. At least this explains why it looked like capes from our side had been wrecking cars.

"Yup. See ya in a while Messenger, go forth and deliver the baked goods!" She giggles at her bad joke. It's not even a proper pun! Oh well, it's late, bad jokes can be excused. I almost giggle with her before remembering that guys don't giggle. (I instead laugh loudly.)

Hmmm... I ponder this new, unexpected connection as I wheel the trolley away. She's letting me call her Amy. Does this mean I've made a new friend?

* * *

AN: Sorry for the delay in chapter. I got kinda sick for a week. Oops. Then I wanted to give a bit of love to my neglected other story, so spent a day on that. Oh well, finally back to this one. I don't think I made this chapter terrifying enough. Ugh. The Simurgh should be scarier! :(

Hope you like it anyways~

:3

(And remember, romances are not currently planned. Amy is still gaga over Glory Girl, and Taylor isn't into girls. I figure I'd write this just in case some of you insist upon seeing romance instead of an innocent silly friendship that might or might not happen.)


	15. Letter Opener 2-3

Stepping off the transport ship, I wave goodbye to Amy who had ended up coming home with me. Dragon is pretty nice, we talked briefly while her ship was flying us back home, and she even thanked us for our efforts. Told me that all the kids I had saved were going to be just fine, and that they badly hurt teen was stable now. That's really good to hear, at least I managed to make a small difference.

Looking around I notice that it's completely dark out. Damn. I had lost track of the time while in Australia, but it must be really late at night. There's a half full moon up above me, and downtown looks pretty deserted right now. Amy hasn't left the airship thingy, so she is probably getting a ride directly to her home. One of the perks of having your secret identity publicly known I suppose.

As the ship starts to close the hatch door behind me, I mutter, "Crap, what time is it? Wish I had a watch."

"It is currently 10:24 pm local time." The ship behind me replies in a monotone voice, startling me.

"Oh, uh, thanks." Huh, The ship must have good microphones or something to have heard me over the sounds of it getting ready to take off. Helpful, but creepy.

As the ship flies off, I cascade away to a less exposed location. I port up one self as high as I can go, using a nearby skyscraper as reference, and spreading my arms out. Wind fills the silky feathers and slows my falling with a strong jerk to my arms and body.

It's hard to control my descent, the air right next to the building is very turbulent and I almost end up hitting the side of the skyscraper. I at least get a good enough view for a few seconds, more than enough time to pick out a lower, flatter rooftop. It's lit dimly by the nearby buildings and some light leaking from streetlights, enough for me to port onto it.

I'll have to practice with these wings later when I'm not so exhausted. And hungry! I had missed supper, the last thing I ate was that sandwich hours ago with Uber and Leet. Handing out all the coffee and snacks seems to have awakened my stomach. By the time I was on a sleek, blimpy looking airship and heading home, I was ravenous enough to eat a horse. But that's not my major problem. My problem is that I was supposed to be home hours ago!

I had gotten dad used to me not coming home till around six, but me not showing up at all? Not calling, or leaving a message? He's bound to be freaking out right now. If I don't come up with a good excuse fast, I might have my freedom severely restricted.

He has to go to work at some point, so I'd still have during the day, but if he felt that he couldn't trust me to be on my own, he might send me back to school. Now that I know about Sophia, I'd never be able to handle it if she tried to help Emma bully me again.

I need something, some excuse that would make him only mad at me for worrying him, but not lose his trust in me. If I say I was mugged... no, that would make him never let me go outside again. I had almost convinced him to let me take that emergency first aid course, 'just in case', and was going to use that as a stepping stone to other useful things a hero should know, but he'd never let me be independent if he thought I was in danger.

And I'm still amazingly hungry. Maybe I should go get something to eat and spend some time thinking about this? An extra half hour one way or another won't make him any less mad. I should have enough money for a burger or two, unless I lost it in the Simurgh fight?

I bend down to check to make sure that my ankle wallet is still strapped on tight and feels full. Good, seems like it's all still there. The ankle wallet has some emergency money inside, as well as the burner cellphone Uber and Leet gave me so I could call and cancel filming if something came up unexpectedly. I haven't used it yet, but it supposedly has their number programmed into the contacts.

As I start to teleport around the city carefully, looking for a place to get some food, I can't help but be glad I found this little thing at the thrift shop, otherwise I'd have had to resort to a fanny pack or something equally dorky. It's handy to be able to carry stuff on me in costume, I'm hoping that the redesign of my costume will have lots of the pockets I had mentioned to Uber, that way I won't need the ankle wallet anymore. Although I might just keep it to balance out the weight of my emergency knife on the other leg. Hmm... No, better to put another emergency weapon on the other leg, like pepper spray or another knife.

Too bad there's no room for the exploding armband in the wallet, otherwise I'd stash it inside and not have to keep wearing it. But at least it's not locked to my arm anymore, so I can actually take it off once I get to the hiding spot where I stashed my normal clothes.

I had found this great sheltered spot a week back, that only another cape could reach, and it was protected from the rain too. Now I was hiding my costume stuff there, so dad wouldn't accidentally find anything incriminating in my closet. I could get to it easily, change with no chance of anyone seeing me, and be off to go practice my powers, film or work-out on the ship.

I planned on making up a few stashes like it around the city once I got more resources, just in case one was found or I needed to get to the closest one. Eventually I'd stock them with all sorts of useful stuff like first aid kits and rope and junk.

But that's once I have the money to be able to afford extra stashes of supplies. For now, I can barely afford a meal. Speaking of, I finally find a place that's still open this late. Fast food naturally. Some kind of pizza place where you can buy by the slice, or get a whole one for cheap. Looks like there is a sandwich shop nearby too, but I'm not in the mood for that. I want cheesy and greasy and warm right now.

Looking inside, it has no customers right now, perfect. I go in and the little bell above the door rings, attracting the attention of the counter guy. He's dark haired, overweight, and looks like he makes the pizzas himself, since he has flour all over his hands and shirt. He looks taken aback at the sight of me. Oh, right, costume. Had forgotten I was wearing it for a second there.

I lower my voice a bit to try and sound more like a guy, "How much for a large cheese pizza?"

"Oh, uh... Nine bucks after tax."

I nod at him and unstrap my wallet from my leg, digging out a ten dollar bill. He wipes his hands ineffectually at his apron and takes my money, fumbling for my change with a nervous look at me. I can't help but sigh out loud. "Relax man, I'm not gonna cause trouble ok? I'm a good guy, just not well known. I'm starving and way too tired to change out of costume and come in civvies right now."

"Oh..." He visibly gathers his courage as he reaches out to hand me my change.

"I heard on the radio that the bitch Simurgh hit Australia. You there for that?"

I look down, depressed and suddenly even more tired. This guy is sitting here on the opposite side of the world from trouble, hearing about the horribleness on the radio, probably never realizing that it could have easily been our city, could be any city. And sometimes it seems like we will never win. That eventually the world will slid into ruin and never recover. I don't know why he's asking, but he better not be looking for exciting details, for tales of triumph and glory. Otherwise I might just punch him, if he tries to trivialize an entire city being lost in just a few hours.

"Yeah, we lost. Canberra's gone." I grab my lone dollar bill of change and put it into my wallet next to my other two tens, not making eye contact and hoping he won't try to ask more questions. Looking at the phone has given me an idea.

I head over to a corner booth that's out of view of the lone security camera, taking a seat where the counter guy or customers coming in won't be able to easily see me. It looks like others in the past have taken advantage of this secluded corner to liberally apply graffiti to the seats and table.

I look at the phone and pull it out. After my moms death, I haven't really used one. I suppose I blamed Mom's cell phone for her car accident, but they are too useful to ignore forever. Not if I'm going to be a hero. I'll have to be able to get the call next time there is an Endbringer attack, or be able to call in captured criminals to the cops or PRT.

And I'll take the first step by calling Uber for advice. He's pretty easy to talk to, good for bouncing ideas off of, and has more experience hiding his identity than I do. Apparently he even managed to hide the months of prison time as a cape from his friends and family, and easily get back his old job, whatever it was. He's a bit too cagey to have told me what it is he actually does, probably because it would make it too easy to figure out who he is.

He's bound to be able to help me come up with something that will work to save my sorry hide. I grin under my ninja mask, and pull off the scarf that's muffling my voice. "Note to self, voice changing ninja mask? Would be better than a bulky scarf over the mask." I mutter to myself, as I look up the contacts list and find the only number in it.

Dialing, I listen to the phone ring. Someone picks up on the other end after three rings, and I hear some faint music and shooting in the background. "Yellow?" I hear Leet's voice say on the other end. Darn, I was hoping to get Uber right away. How to ask for him without sounding rude?

"Hey, it's Ash, don't mean to bother you so late but I'm hoping to ask Uber a few questions?" I keep my voice low and soft so that the pizza guy can't overhear anything, but he seems busy making food and getting the occasional phone call so I'm probably safe.

"Yeah, nope. He's not here right now. Normally he's all getting ready to sleep soon, but I dunno where he is. I can prob help?" He sounds a bit distracted, is he gaming right now? Or watching a movie?

"Oh, I was kinda hoping to talk some stuff over with him, I need some help, sorta urgently. Do you know if he's back soon?"

"Nope! He didn't tell me nothin." I can hear the sounds in the background stop abruptly, and he sounds focused on the conversation now. "You ok? Hurt? You went to go fight Purity, but I haven't heard about any fighting breaking out anywhere in the city."

"No, no, I'm fine. It turned out that she was going to help with an Endbringer fight. The Simurgh. Panacea was there too and I kinda ended up tagging along to help evacuate people."

"Fuck me sideways... Ok, where are you? Maybe I should come in person to talk. That's... Super shitty man. You really are the suicidal hero type aren't ya Ash?"

"Err, a place called Pizza Xpress, on Marion Street I think? But you don't really have to come out here, I don't need a ride or anything, I can get home fine."

"Nah, it's actually pretty close by, I'll be there in ten minutes or less. You just encountered the fucking Simurgh. I know Uber's better at this emotional support crap, but he's not here so I'll fucking man up if I have to."

"Uh-" There's a little click as I'm hung up on. Wow, even even he's trying to be nice he's a jerk. Too bad he didn't bother staying on the phone so I could explain that I don't need emotional support. I already got some of that from the doctors, nurses, and even Amy back at the hospital. Just knowing that it's all crap and everyone has to find a way to deal with it? It kinda helped, knowing I wasn't alone in being messed up.

Right now I just needed a good excuse so my dad won't kill me when I go home. I don't need some kind of misguided pity, especially not from a jerk like Leet.

I try to call back but no-one is picking up the phone now. Great... And I can't leave cus I still don't have my pizza. Grumbling to myself, I put the phone away and get to planning.

Time passes fairly slowly as I try to solve the dad problem on my own, since I doubt Leet will be much help. Without a watch, it's hard to say for sure how much time passes exactly, but a delivery driver comes in to pick up some pizzas at least once before my food is ready. Eventually my pizza is brought over by the counter guy. He also sets down a fountain drink of what looks like some kind of dark pop, and a basket of cheesy bread sticks.

"I didn't order a drink, or cheesy bread?" I ask him confused.

"On the house, Hero." He gives me a grin, exposing some crooked teeth, then walks off.

Huh, that was nice. It's such a small gesture, but I can't help but smile a silly little grin. Actual tears start to well up in my eyes. Stupid tear ducts, stupid face, and stupid wonky emotions. I must be really tired, I don't normally cry easy, not after over a year of bullying.

I start to eat with amazing speed, wolfing down slices of pizza like I haven't eaten in days. Wiping away my tears, I try out the drink, and it turns out it's actually Root Beer. Not my favorite, but it works well with the pizza. Half the pizza is gone before I sample the cheesy bread sticks, and I hear another little ring of the doors bell.

The guy who walks in immediately heads down the row of booths, ignoring the counter guy. I see an unfamiliar costume, but a very familiar slouch. Leet sits down, wearing a costume that looks barely like one. It's basically a slim dark blue suit jacket and matching pants, with a white dress shirt and a simple black tie. The only part that says 'cape' is the thin blue ski-mask that covers his head but leaves a wide hole for the eyes, and another for his mouth.

Although I have to admit that it's the sharpest looking clothes I've seen him in yet, he lacks the posture to really pull it off. He even has a briefcase with him, to complete the look. It makes me wonder if his day job is being a lawyer, or if this is actually another video game character. It looks a lot less outlandish than most of them, so I'm having a hard time deciding. The counter guy calls out to us, "Hey, no fighting in here please!"

"No, it's cool, he's a friend." I reassure the poor pizza guy before he calls the cops on us.

"So..." Leet leans forwards and snags a bread stick. "Vent."

"Actually, if you had bothered to stay on the phone and let me explain, I didn't really need emotional support." I tell him dryly, and attempt to protect the rest of my food by eating another cheesy stick.

"Yes, it was crappy, we lost Canberra, and tons of people are dead. But I actually just needed help coming up with an excuse to tell my dad why I haven't been home today."

"Oh, huh, well fuck. Guess you don't need my dumb ass after all."

He actually looks kinda crestfallen that I don't need his help. Well, he _is_ here so I might as well try to use him as a sounding board. "Eh, stay anyways and have a slice, maybe you'll have a better idea than what I've come up with so far."

"What you got so far, and why is it such a problem?"

"So an, 'incident' lets call it, happened a month or so ago. It was pretty bad, and lets just say that because of it I got powers."

Leet nods, "Ok, so your trigger event, yeah that would be majorly bad shit."

Blinking at him I ask, "Trigger event?"

"I guess we are the first capes you've talked to a lot? Ok, so trigger events are what gives people powers. Most of them are basically the worst day of your life, ever. The only ones who escape that are second generation triggers, who can trigger from stupid crap. I read somewhere that Glory Girl triggered being fouled in a basketball game. So unless it's a spoiled second gen trigger, don't ask people about their origin story, cus it's probably messed up shit."

Oh wow, I never knew that. That's seriously messed up, if every person with powers went through something as bad as the locker incident, no _wonder_ the world is drowning in villains.

Leet prattles on, "I took a few courses in University about parahumans and I remember that physical danger gets you more physical powers, emotional danger more mental powers. Not a hard rule, but a general trend. Anyways, you can chill, I won't pry. It was prob messed up and not something to share lightly. So your family knows about the event, but not the powers you got from it, right?"

"Uh, right. So I have a decent amount of freedom right now despite parental paranoia. But since I never came home for dinner today and didn't leave him a message or call or anything, if I don't come up with a good excuse, one that doesn't make him fear for my safety, I can kiss some of my freedoms goodbye. Some possible punishments I can get around, but some I can't. And I don't know what Dad might do."

He nods in concern, then steals some of my drink. In retaliation, I bite the end off another cheesy bread, claiming it as my own and talking around it. No need for manner with Leet.

"At first I thought of claiming to get mugged or attacked or something, but that would just make him never let me go outside, make him worry more. So the best idea I had while I waited for food was to claim I was upset by something someone said when I was wandering around a mall or something, ran off to cry, and didn't realize the time until now. Hopefully if I come back home all sad and contrite, Dad punishes me lightly cus I'm all emotional and junk. Heck, after the Simurgh fight, I can probably cry on demand if I have to to sell it. I hate the idea of manipulating his emotions like this, but I'm gonna need my freedom to be able to practice my powers and become a hero."

"Hmm, not a bad plan, especially if you have a manly type of father who isn't used to emotion from a dude. But it seems kinda overly complicated. You'd have to come up with who insulted you so badly that you'd be set off, where you were that you didn't notice time passing, but weren't kicked out by a security guard. Lots of little details. Plus he might go ballistic and try to call or track down whoever you claim pissed you off. Wouldn't it be easier to just call up a friend, get them to cover for you and claim you were out with them and lost track of time? That always worked for me."

I look down at the table and kinda mumble out, "I uh, don't have any friends. At all. Dad knows this, it's part of the trigger event that got him so worried about me."

"Oh."

Leet is silent for half a minute, as I fight to not cringe and try to avoid puking up all the food I ate too fast. I should maybe have paced myself, because the pizza really wants to come back right now. I can't believe that I actually told someone, let alone _Leet_. I could see myself telling Uber, having him be sympathetic, helping me feel better. But Leet? I just hope he doesn't make fun of me, I don't think I could keep working with them if he did.

Leet shifts position and grabs another cheesy bread stick, sticks it in the corner of his mouth like a cigar, and declares quietly with a fake french accent, "Don't be stupid, of course you have friends who will cover for you! I'll totally do it, but I know Uber would be insisting on it if he was here instead of me. We were gonna be revealing our identities to you soon anyways, so I don't care if your father asks to meet me for proof that you actually have a friend."

I'm finding it easier to fight down the nausea now, as Leet turns out to maybe not be as much of a dick as I thought he was. This is a way better reaction than I was hoping for, even if he's still somehow irritating. I think I might have misjudged him.

He drops the crappy french accent as he continues, "Ok, so if you are normally friendless, you tell him that you've secretly been making a new friend, or reconnecting with an old one that he wouldn't know, or some other bullshit. You'll know what's most believable. Tell him some crap like I was helping you with homework cus I'm super smart, or you just wanted to hang out with someone and play video games or something. Then oops, you lost track of time cus you were having so much fun, and haven't had a friend in however long."

Ok, sounds plausible so far. It's the kind of excuse I'd have used back in the days of being friends with Emma, we had always covered for each other without hesitation.

Leet waves around his half eaten cheesy stick for emphasis, "He'll be so happy that you have a friend again, unless he's a total dick, that he's bound to not punish you harshly. Then you can even use it as an excuse later when you go out hero-ing at odd hours. Oh and if he is a total dick and doesn't care if you have a friend or not, Uber and I will kidnap you and let you crash at our house till you are legally able to ditch your evil parent. We have a futon you can use if ya want. The kidnap clause also applies if he's the type to hit you, or literally lock you up."

Leet tries to level a stern glare at me, but with the last bit of the bread stick sticking out of his mouth, it just makes him look silly. I let out a little hiccup of laughter. "No, no, my dad's not like that. I promise, he'd never hurt me or anything like that."

He just shrugs, "Oh, and I guess if you think it's a shitty plan we can think up something else, but I'd be hesitant to use your plan, too many plot holes. Although the sympathy part would work well assuming nothing went wrong."

My mind is racing a bit as I consider my options. He's right about the holes in my original plan, that's why I had wanted help. Leet's plan was nicely simple, dad couldn't poke holes in it easily. It still used emotions to good effect, hopefully getting his sympathy and not his ire. I couldn't think of a better plan, the only problem is that it meant I'd be revealing my identity to them. I couldn't see my dad not wanting to make sure my new friends were not evil like my last one was, so they'd have to meet him at some point.

I had pretty much eaten 3/4 of a large pizza, some bread sticks and some soda. My hunger was very thoroughly satisfied, so that excuse was gone. I couldn't delay going home much longer, or else the current best plan wouldn't work.

Was I ready to reveal my real identity? I would have said yes for sure if it was just Uber. We meshed really well, I felt like I could trust him at least a bit. He's the honorable type, practical, and was just as well read as me, if not more. We got each others humor.

Leet on the other hand? Well a day ago I would have said no, no way. But now? Now I think maybe I can trust him a bit. Sure he's kinda anti-social, sarcastic and rude, but when push came to shove? When I said I needed help, he immediately dropped his game to listen to me. He might have jumped to conclusions, but he came to do what he could, even knowing that he's crap at it. Maybe it's because he is trying to suck up to me because my power helps his, but even if so, that just means he can't afford to piss me off or he loses my temporary duplication. That means I have the power, the control, not him.

So I nod at him slowly, aware that I've been quite for a few minutes. "Ok, your plan is the best one. I'll call him from your phone so if he tries to call you on his own later he won't get suspicious. We bullshit away, my problem is hopefully solved, and no more secret identities I guess."

"Right, prob best to use the home phone instead of my burner then. Burners are always getting thrown away so that would raise suspicions if he couldn't reach us later. Ya still hungry?"

"No, I'm over full actually, ate way too much, too fast. Ugh."

"Heh, yeah man, I've done that. Try not to puke huh?"

"No promises." I groan at him, holding my stomach exaggeratedly.

As we get up to go, Leet grabs the food and brings it to the counter guy. "Box man?"

"Sorry, it turned out to be too much food to eat in one sitting even with him mooching off me. Thanks for the extras, I appreciate it." I apologize to the pizza guy. It's not his fault I ate too fast.

"No problem. Can I ask who you and your friend are? I'm not familiar with your costumes." He asks as he quickly and efficiently boxes up the leftovers.

I panic. I don't want Leet to tell the guy his cape name, to reveal that he's a criminal. It would ruin the hero image I'm trying to build, especially since I have plans for 're-branding' the two and getting them to come out with me, since it seems like that's a thing that happens often. (Given how Shadow Stalker was pissed off about her new name.)

I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, "Oh uh, we're forming a professional hero group, but don't have final names yet. Sorry. Next time I want pizza I'll come back and let you know, ok?"

"Sure thing, drinks are free for heroes, so come back any time, ok?"

"Thanks!" I wave goodbye and usher Leet out.

"The fuck was all that?"

"Well I couldn't have you tell him you were Leet could I? I'm trying to be a hero! Plus I'm dragging you two along for the ride. Obviously while I'm making you guys be heroes with me, you'll have to use new names. No-one will believe it otherwise." I whisper to him, checking to make sure that there were no people nearby to overhear.

"So, I'm going undercover as a hero huh? And here I was worried you'd try to change the Uber and Leet image somehow. That's actually smart, and it fit's my current costume really well. Fuckin sweet coincidence. Hey, can I wear a suit all the time I'm a hero? I look pretty snazzy in it. Hmm, I'll want a cooler mask..."

"Sure, if you really want to. Can't hurt to look professional. But what kind of name would you pick for a hero that works well with a suit?"

"I already know this one! I've thought about it before, well not the suit part. But I'd be the Maker! Then I can be all, 'it's time to meet your Maker!' Plus I make shit, so duh. Actually the suit sorta fits too, cus the Maker can also be loosely like a 'made man', like the mafia! A black suit would be more dangerous looking, but not really fit the game..."

"You can't do a super obvious video-game theme anyways, that would defeat the purpose of pretending to be an entirely different cape." I tell him annoyed, as he leads me to a bicycle locked up nearby.

"Fuck, come-on, can't I have anything fun? Fine, James Bond has some crappy knock off video games, that will work. So, a normal sleek black suit, made of the good fabric in case I get shot at, neutral enough not to give away a video-game theme. It's sorta like the spy from Team Fortress, but also double-oh-seven-ish. Hmm, yeah, I like that plan. Easy to make too, I just swap the colour palette on this design."

He unlocks the bike and hands me the pizza box. "Ok, you follow me and bring the pizza. We're only five minutes away from home. It took me like, five minutes just to find and put on this costume. It's one of the few I keep at home, cus ya never know when you need a nice suit for funerals and crap."

He takes off his mask and stuffs it into the briefcase, now transformed into a dude in a suit. He looks pretty average, not as bad as I had expected. I suppose I had been imagining lots of pimples or something. He's got short dark hair, a slightly chubby and round face with pretty much no chin, and what looks like dark eyes. Probably brown but it's hard to tell for sure in the dark.

It's a bit startling, the he's just revealing himself to me like that. He has no guarantee that I won't just teleport away and use this against him. I guess he trusts me.

Peddling away, he huffs and puffs, obviously not used to the exercise. I keep him in view, occasionally teleporting to catch up, and mostly trying to stay in the shadows and duck into alleys if a car drives by. True to his word, five minutes later we arrive at a run down side by side duplex. This neighborhood isn't great, it's on the edge of gang territories and looks like it's slowly sliding into decay and rot. Similar to my own neighborhood actually, but more advanced.

Unlike my home in the neutral area near the Docks, this place is on the border of two gangs zones, the E88 and ABB. This means that if conflict flares up between the rival gangs, there's a small chance it might happen around here, possibly hurting bystanders. Much more dangerous than my area of town where only the ABB are really in charge in the nearby Docks and then it peters out around my home as the PRT and New Wave control the center of the city.

I imagine my home would end up like this if the E88 ever expanded past Winslow and pushed to take the center of the city. (But the PRT would have to completely abandon town for that to happen.)

He heads to the left side of the two halves of the duplex. It looks to be in slightly better repair than the other side. Judging by the kids toys strewn about the short lawn, the neighbour must have kids, very destructive kids.

As soon as Leet has the door open and light on, I port right into his kitchen through a window. It's messy, but not too messy. More of an 'I live here here' kind of mess. I'm actually a bit surprised, I had expected two bachelor guys to be way worse than this. Especially with Leet in the house.

"Not bad." I can't help but remark.

"Bet you expected a pigsty, hah! Fun fact, Uber's more of a slob than I am." He grins at me, and it looks like my guess was right, dark brown eyes. Actually, he has slightly tanned skin too. Given that it's the end of winter, I'm gonna guess maybe some Hispanic blood to account for it.

"So uh, where's your phone?"

"Oh, right, it's over here."

He leads me to a short hallway that contains some kind of closet, and an old fashioned alcove with a cordless phone perched on top of a phone book. I can see most of the living-room from here, with an impressively large TV and sound system along one wall, and tons of game systems, cables, and controllers jumbled before it. Some bookshelves and a few couches complete the picture.

"Hey, Leet, what's your name? And Uber's?"

"Oh, right, forgot to tell ya. Your parental unit will want to know after all. It's Dom, short for Dominic, but I hate it so just use the short form. Uber is actually Mark."

I bite my lip for a second, and then pluck up my courage to dial. Leet is pretty obviously hanging around eavesdropping, busying himself in the kitchen putting away the pizza. I'd object, but this way he'll hear the story I've come up with for dad, so I won't have to explain the entire cover story to him later.

God, I hope this works.

"Hey Dad," I say when I hear the phone being picked up.

"Taylor. Are you alright?" He sounds worried, tense. Like he was stopping himself from yelling.

"I'm fine Dad. I was with a friend, and kinda got a bit distracted. I lost track of time and only just realized now it was so late. I'm super sorry! I totally should have called you earlier but I didn't realize that hours had been passing while we gamed."

There was a pause.

"Taylor, if there's anyone that's making you make this call… the bullies or someone else, tell me everything is fine. If you're not in trouble, tell me your mother's full name."

I felt momentarily embarrassed. I know it's unusual for me to hang out with people, but this was a bit much. He was just trying to keep me safe, but it was bordering on the ridiculous.

"Annette Rose Hebert," I told him, "Really Dad, it's cool."

"You're really okay?"

"Yes! You don't need secret codes or anything. I was just hanging out with Dom, and all of a sudden it was 11 pm and I panicked, worried that you were freaking out cus I forgot to tell you I was at a friends, and now it's super late."

"Is this what you've been doing when you aren't at the library? Hanging out with this Dom guy? How did you meet, and what have you two been doing?" Oooh boy, now he sounds like he's worried about boy issues? Could it be? Hmmm, how to tell?

"Well, first I met him in the library, we've been chatting, hanging out, talking online. He's a bit older than me, he's already done high school, so he's been helping me study stuff that is hard to figure out on my own. Sometimes we just talk. It's been nice having someone to talk to and hang out with, and at first I wasn't sure we were friends, so I didn't tell you. I didn't want to get all excited only for Dom to ditch me like Emma did."

Dad makes a small noise in the back of his throat at that reminder or my past friend troubles, so I rush the explanation to prevent him from trying to interrupt.

"This last week we've been really hanging out more in the afternoons, and I was gonna tell you soon! It's not like I'm just doing nothing but hang out, I make sure to get my school stuff done first and he knows it. Some days we don't even get a chance to do anything fun before I have to go home."

"Taylor, is he pressuring you to do anything you are unsure about? Is he your boyfriend? You've been through a lot recently and I just want to make sure that he's not taking advantage of you."

Aha! He does suspect boy troubles. Whelp, I have a sure fire solution for that. "No, no, no, Dad, you are totally getting the wrong idea. Dom's gay. He's totally not into girls! He even has a boyfriend named Mark, I've met him! But his boyfriend is working all the time right now so Dom kills the time before Mark gets home with games and reading at the library, and now hanging out with me. That's how we normally know when it's time for me to go home, is when Mark comes home. But for some reason Mark hasn't showed up yet so we accidentally went too long."

Leet is making a hilarious shocked face at my claims of his gayness, then he does a double take and looks hard at me. Oops, he might have figured out that I'm a girl based on my side of the conversation. Hahahaha, oh well, he was gonna find out after the phone call anyways.

I soften my voice and let some of my emotions take over. "They're just friends. It's... it's nice to have friends again daddy. I'm sorry for keeping them secret, but it felt like if anyone found out, they'd go away somehow. It felt fragile..."

Aw man, now Leet looks kinda sad. I hope it's not pity, I hate pity. He better not try treating me any different now because of this. I might've had to let these two halves of my life mix a bit, but I'm determined to keep them as separate as possible.

"Oh, that's, uh... Sorry honey for jumping to conclusions. I was really worried about you, my mind was racing with all sorts of possibilities, none of them nice. Finding out that you've been secretly making a friend, and not telling me? I suppose it could be worse, but I'm still very upset that you didn't let me know. Should I come pick you up, or can they drop you off?"

"Err... I don't think they have a car. We always take the bus or walk. But it's ok Dad, there's still buses running, I can get home fine on my own. I'll be there soon, and I'm super sorry again that I messed things up and lost track of time. I know you must have been really worried."

"Oh no you don't young lady! I'm coming to pick you up. I'm not letting you bus home this late at night, through god knows what kind of area. I've been worried enough about you today, you will not give me a heart attack. This is _final_. What's the address?"

"Uh, let me check, I forget exactly what it is, I just follow Dom usually."

Covering the mouthpiece of the phone, I ask Dom, "What's your address again?

"Fifty-seven-A, McAllister Street."

"Right, it's fifty-seven-A, McAllister Street." I repeat back to dad.

"Ok, I'll be there soon. Have you eaten anything?"

"I ate a sandwich earlier, but I've only just noticed I'm hungry, so I'm gonna eat some pizza Dom has, if that's ok? I don't want you to have to cook anything for me when we get home, it's gonna be late by the time we get back."

"If it's ok with him, then fine. We _will_ be having a long talk about this once we are home. As glad as I am that you are making friends, you _are_ going to be punished for scaring me half to death and keeping secrets. Fair enough?"

"Yeah, I guess... Sorry."

"I love you sweetheart, I'm just a little mad right now."

"I love you too Dad."

He hangs up the phone with a click, and I put my borrowed phone back on the charger. Turning to Leet I pull off my ninja mask, shake out my long curly brown hair, and grin widely. "It worked! Minor punishment only."

Leet stares at me dumbfounded. "Dude! You're a dudette! You pulled a fucking Samus Aran on us!"

This makes no sense to me, so I give him my best confused look. "I pulled a what?"

Excited, he starts to gesture as he explains. "Ok, so this famous game, old, classic really, it had this awesome bounty hunter, Samus Aran, fighting aliens right? One of the best games of it's time, still one of the highest rated series of all time too, as they just kept coming out with more good games. But in this first game, at the end, if you manage to tough it out, beat everything, you get this end scene, a total surprise in the days before internet spoiled everything. And guess what? This total bad-ass bounty hunter takes off his helmet, and bam! It's actually a girl! The whole time, the dude was a chick! You just did that! That was so wicked!"

"Err, I'm glad you're so happy?"

"Oh man, wait till I tell Mark. This whole time his new fav gym-bro has been a chick!" He breaks out into loud braying laughter and goes over to the couch, pretty much just flopping on it.  
After a handful of seconds, he calms down and tells me, "You're pretty ok dude. For a girl."

I put my hands on my hips and glare at him, "You better not be trying to throw me a pity party, or treating me like a girly girl from now on!"

"No way man! You're a fucking bad-ass! Er, although I guess Ash isn't your real name? Is it Annette?"

"No, that was my moms name. My paranoid dad told me to say her name if I was fine, and if I was under duress then I was to tell him that everything was fine."

"Oooh, sneaky. Clever pops, but not clever enough!"

"Yup. My name's actually Taylor. Good to meet you face to face Leet."

"Nope! You gotta use my real name when I'm not masked. If you don't get into the right habit with names, you'll mess up and accidentally out someone. So it's Dom now till I mask up. Oh and speaking of outing. Did you have to lie and say I was gay?" He whines.

"Yup. Strange new male friend of daughter when she's missing all evening? You better _believe_ that it's safer for him to think that you're both gay."

He sighs dejectedly. "Well it's not like I have a problem with gay people. Pretty sure Mark is actually Bi, but if your father ever meets the two of us, no _way_ he's gonna believe we are a couple."

"Eh, I'm sure it will be fine. You guys have that 'best buddies' thing going on, it's close enough if you squint right. Anyways, I'm gonna go quickly ditch this costume and come back. Would be bad if he caught me in this getup. While I'm doing that, tell me all about the most immersive and distracting game you have so I can actually have a plausible sounding lie for my dad if he grills me. You're the one who suggested video games, so you have to help me lie about it. I know crap all about most games."

"Tell you while you're gone? Huh? Can your afterimages relay info or something?"

"Kinda. I'll tell you and Mark more tomorrow, or when I'm next able to get free given that I'm possibly grounded. I guess it's good that most of my part of the filming is done now. Anyways, I was keeping most details about my power secret till I was for sure teaming up with you guys, but given the unmasking and helping with my alibi, it's pretty much a given that we're gonna team up now."

"Huh, that's handy. I guess we should also come clean about the nitty-gritty details about our powers later too. Uh, shouldn't you be going now though? Your father might not be far away."

"I'm already halfway there." I give him my best evil grin as my other selves leapfrog quickly through the night, heading to the clothes stash.

"Nice. Way cool man, way cool. I think we went in the right direction with that ninja mask, you are totally sneaky."

"Hahahaha, maybe. Now, teach me about your games, oh venerable instructor." I bow mockingly.

He groans and attempts to hit me on the head with a thrown pillow. "Dude, you're as bad as Mark. I swear to fucking god."

* * *

AN: So here's some Leet love for you guys, since I've been neglecting him. And just in case you think this is too fast for identity revealing, the Original Taylor ended up revealing herself to the Undersider's pretty danged fast, with lot's less trust between them, at least on her part. Questions, comments, concerns? Review! If its a good enough question, I'll reply publicly so everyone can see the answer! Otherwise I tend to just do private messages in reply. Oh and if you do a guest review, I can't reply back, so sign in!


	16. Letter Opener 2-4

On my first day of grounding, I was stuck going with dad to work during the day. This had not worked very well for either of us since a lot of my self-learning was done online, I kept having to steal his computer. I eventually ended up doing some old problems from the textbook I had brought with me, but it wasn't much of a challenge and didn't help when I ran into something that needed a better explanation. Textbooks were not meant to be a sole source of info, or at least mine weren't.

Dad was no use either, I was way too advanced for him to be able to help. Dad at least realized that this was a stupid plan after the seventh time I asked him to quickly go to the learning website I used frequently and look up something for me. He also kept coming back from meetings to find me on his computer, looking up video tutorials that refused to load quickly. I made sure to not touch a single frivolous website, just in case he knew how to check his browsing history. The sooner I could get back to being unsupervised, the sooner I could super-study.

Luckily he figured out a better plan after that disastrous first day. Instead he would let me stay home next time, and just call at random times to make sure I hadn't left. Tricky, but possible to fool with my powers. The downside was that it was the weekend, so I had two more days of full supervision before I could take advantage of it.

I managed to convince him that exercise was important and counted as a gym class, but that's the best I could do for getting out of the house. I used that time to get to the costume stash and call the guys to explain that I can't meet them till Monday, and even then I wouldn't be able to help them film much until the week of grounding was over. They had agreed on meeting at their house on Monday at noon, mostly to let Uber meet me in person, go over the hero thing, and figure out how the grounding affected the film schedule.

* * *

Now it's finally Monday, and dad is at work. Finally free!

The first thing I do is go to the ship for my neglected morning workout. Usually Uber is there for a few hours in the morning, so Im hoping to catch him today before the meeting.

I did my usual knock on the stair rails and sent self Prime down the stairs, this time not in costume but in normal workout clothes. My other two selves leapfrogging around back home are dressed the same, just in case dad tries a surprise visit instead of a phone call.

"Hey, you escaped Alcatraz today Ash?" Uber calls out from where he's lifting an impressive amount of weight.

"Yup! I have my afterimages at home in case dad tries to call and check on me. So, uh, I guess now you get to finally meet me in person. It's Taylor, not Ash."

He drops the weights with an annoyingly loud clang and pulls off his thin mask, grinning up at me as I finish descending the stairs. Mark has short blonde hair to go with the blue eyes, a strong jaw, and fair skin. He's very handsome, but not quite a supermodel like you see in the Calvin Klein ads. He has some faint signs of scarring from what was probably acne when he was a teen.

I nervously push my glasses up a bit. "So, Dom told you I was a girl presumably?"

"Yeah. Gotta admit, I had been thinking you were a gay guy myself. Or just feminine. He didn't mention the glasses though. I knew your name is Taylor, but I'm so used to calling you Ash now, it'll be hard to switch. Sorry."

"Nah, it's ok. If I fooled you guys, then hopefully I'll be able to fool the rest of the world too. I figure it's the best way to keep my real identity a secret. And I normally wear contacts when I'm in costume."

"Yeah, it's tricky to keep the two lives separate sometimes. Even though we know each others identities and all, just in case any other random people ever find the workout ship like you did, there's a few thin generic masks over here in this crate."

"Got it. So, hey, I have some things I need to interrogate you on while we work-out, I've made a list in the last few days. And I have a special request after the interrogation, since we are gonna be teammates now. Oh and I can't stay too long since I have to use my power to be in two places at once, and if I use it all up now to work-out and talk to you, then I won't have anything left to meet with you guys again at noon."

"Alright, fair enough. Ask away, you've earned the right Ash... Taylor I mean."

"Right, so first off, DragonHide cloth. Apparently it's a big deal, expensive, and Miss Militia recognized it right away as soon as she saw me. Please tell me you guys didn't steal this from Dragon?"

"No, no, definitely not. That would be suicide for sure."

He pauses lifting a heavy weight when he says that, before continuing again with the tone of an instructor. "Ok, so we call it a Tinker fabric, but it is actually a real fabric that requires Tinker technology to make in large amounts. Everything the fabber makes, has to be a real fabric. The magic is in how it can make anything easily and quickly. There are lots of things like carbon nanotubes that were theoretical before Tinkers started to pop up, but still within the bounds of normal physics. Stuff like DragonHide is just really hard to make, it took scientists years to make even a few inches of it as a proof of concept, decades ago. It went by a different name back then, but it seems like these days it's commonly known as DragonHide. Not too sure why, I'd have to research that."

I breath out a small sigh of relief. No angry Dragon mad that we stole her technology is good.

"But anyways, that's why it is so expensive. A lot of Tinkers can't make it because it's not their specialty. Specialties are important for Tinkers and can be very limiting. All the different fabrics we can make with the fabber are real, just taken out of theoretical models and research papers. The DragonHide is worth a pretty penny because of all this. I _wish_ we could sell a costume or two to people for quick cash, but most of the possible customers are nasty types, and I don't want to help them. The good guys would never associate with us long enough to buy anything. Plus, if we ever let slip to the PRT that 'Uber and Leet' have an extremely valuable, costume making machine, they would probably take it away from us as soon as they can, for their own use."

"Huh, that sucks. Hey, that reminds me of the other major question. What's a Thinker? And a Stranger? And Mover? I've heard a few capes use these terms when they were telling me about how a Simurgh fight works and what to do."

"You didn't know? Oh, well I guess we are your first cape friends. It's not something you would learn in high school, only in a University level course I guess. They are terms that the PRT invented to describe various capes and their powers. They also usually have a number attached to indicate the danger of the power, but I have no clue what number would mean what strength of power. I'd assume high numbers are more dangerous powers, but I think the ratings are mostly for the PRT troops to use."

Man, you'd think that they'd teach you this kind of stuff in High School instead of University, given that most capes seem to get their powers when they're young.

"The twelve categories are designed to help the PRT's normal guards know what sort of response is needed for each cape they fight, what sort of measures to take, and how many are likely needed to take the cape out on their own if they can't get backup from one of their own capes. There's a rhyme to help remember them all."

I stop lifting weights for a bit to listen with focus as he clears his throat and gives a clear, almost musical rendition of the rhyme.

"Mover, Shaker,  
Brute and Breaker.  
Master, Tinker,  
Blaster, Thinker.  
Striker, Changer,  
Trump and Stranger!"

"Oh, that explains a lot. So I guess some of those are obvious enough, everyone knows about Tinkers. Mover must mean ability to move around, like flight, super speed, teleportation, and maybe being able to lift yourself or others with telekinesis, right?"

"Yeah, you got Mover exactly, but Tinkers usually also gets others applied, depending on what they make. So making vehicles as a Tinker counts as being a Mover too. Squealer would have a Mover rating as well as Tinker, since everything she makes deals with cars. If she started to attach guns to all her cars, she'd gain a Blaster rating eventually."

"Ok, so you yourself are equivalent to a well trained fighter, so you'd have what, a Brute rating? I assume Brute means sheer physical threat like super-strength and fighting skills?"

"Nah, I'm a Thinker, my power is mental. Brute is more for strength or durability. I might qualify just from the sheer amount of work I've put into getting strong, but then so would any professional athlete or Olympian. I know my power looks physical most of the time since it's the easiest application of it, but it's purely a mind thing when you look at the details of it. I suppose it's a good example of how powers can be tricky to classify if you don't know the mechanics behind them."

"Oh, ok, so Thinker is mental stuff obviously, would it also include enhanced senses and other ways to gather information? I can't see it fitting into any other category except maybe Changer."

"Yup, good catch. Changer by the way can be changing into pretty much anything, I suspect Purity changes into some kind of body made out of light. Changers get very different powers depending on the form they take, it makes them harder to classify, compared to something simple like a Brute. It _can_ include improved senses but if someone doesn't change form, the senses are categorized as Thinker instead for a lack of a better place to put them."

I nod in satisfaction, "Hmm, so I have minor Thinker powers then, since the more afterimages I have up, the better my senses. I also think with more depth, the more brains I have."

"Nice, always handy to have an improved mind. So next up, Shakers affect broad areas. Stuff like space warping, gas, explosions, force fields, etc. Breakers break some kind of rule of physics, usually only for themselves or right around them. Often this is a protective effect, like making someone immune to their own fire. Breaker is a very common one for capes."

"So I'm guessing Master is mind control, pretty obvious really, and Blaster is ranged attacks right?"

"Actually, Master also includes making and controlling minions, so you get a Master rating too. Incidentally, the more categories a cape has ratings in, the more dangerous. Even if they are all minor powers, they add up in terms of versatility and how they support each other. A Brute can be outrun, but a Brute with a Mover rating? That's much harder to beat. Add in tactical thinking or senses from a Thinker ability, then you get a really dangerous foe. Even if all of the ability's are minor overall, the combined effect is much greater than the parts."

That makes tons of sense, versatility give you more options in a fight, as opposed to having just one thing you can do. I'll have to make sure not to underestimate capes who seem weak, since they might end up being the hardest to deal with.

"Now Blaster you got pretty much right, just all sorts of fun ranged attacks. Striker is similar, but at a more personal range. Touch usually. They can sometimes apply changed states like the Breaker powers, but to other people. Like that hilarious Clockblocker kid in the Wards. That kid is the best, Dom and I watch all his interviews."

I chuckle a bit as I consider this. Yeah, I can see them being fans of Clockblocker. That kid has an irreverent sense of humor that clearly shows through in every public appearance he makes.

"Anyways, Stranger is basically stealth tricks like invisibility, memory loss, ect. They probably only call it Stranger to make it fit the rhyme. Last but not least is Trump. This one is actually more of a concern for a cape than a normal person usually. They alter other powers, give powers to others, negate powers, and so on. Usually only deals with other capes, but sometimes they will negate or alter reality for normal people too. For example, someone might make everyone in an area not able to hear anything, it would negate normal hearing, as well negating all sonic powers."

"Huh, ok. I can see that it would be hard to tell if someone is a Trump or Shaker depending on their power, your example could be both. So now I'll know what they mean when I hear someone talk about this, thanks! Did you learn this with your power or in University?"

"University. The basics about the categories is stuff you can learn in any 'Intro to Parahumans' class, almost everybody ends up taking that one if they go to University, it's really popular. But admittedly, a lot of capes pop young, they usually only learn this stuff later in life or if an older teammate tells them."

"Wait weren't you gonna tell me this at the noon meeting? Shouldn't you have waited?" I interrupt as I move to another station, starting to peddle on the stationary bike.

"Nah, Dom already knows all this junk, it's only you who has to learn it. I figure this will save us time later, since you have to be here to work-out anyways and might as well listen to me blather on."

I nod, but save my breath for the exercise.

"So, might as well share my power details. If I want to get strong, I now know the best workout techniques. Want to sword fight? I suddenly know the best techniques, everything from how to hold it, to swing it to accomplish specific objectives like disarm someone or behead them. Want to pick a lock? Lock-picking techniques. Do I want to memorize facts faster? I can know a memory technique that helps! Sing? Vocal techniques. Won't change my voice, but lets me make the best use of it. Although I did get lucky there, my voice was already pretty awesome just from genetics alone."

That's an understatement. I roll my eyes at him and huff.

"I'm also lucky in that a lot of the things I learn from my power, I can try to duplicate without it. My muscles will still know how to swing a sword if I practice enough, same as if I had an expert instructor. I'm essentially my own best teacher for self improvement. I can still try the voice tricks even without my power, I use them all the time so it's natural to talk like that now. It's more effective _with_ the power, but the gap shrinks the more I work at it. It's hard work and a lot of repetition, but I'm slowly getting good enough at my basic tricks that I don't need my power for them anymore."

"Oh that's clever, I didn't realize that you could have permanent lingering skills from your power with some work. I just figured you switched between them fast."

"Yeah, I can switch between them pretty fast by now, but that trick helps make me more versatile. It has limits though, do I want to be a doctor? Alas, I can't be one. Instead I can know the best technique to stitch a wound closed. Or if I know enough about the problem to ask my power the right question, I could know the best technique to tie off a major artery that's cut. But knowing what is wrong in the first place? _That_ my power won't help me with."

"Wait, so when you offered to put on your 'medical expert hat' if killing an afterimage led to problems, you were lying to me?" I gasp out, aghast and kind of out of breath from peddling.

"No, no, I didn't lie! I've known my powers limitations for years, so I've been learning stuff like that on the side. I'm not qualified as a doctor, but I've gotten the equivalent of an EMT, and can do most basic live saving procedures now. I _know_ that my power won't let me just know things all willy-nilly."

Oh, good, he wasn't being completely reliant on his power for everything.

"If I learn about spider bites, then my power knows the best techniques to deal with it. But I have to first know about that specific species of spider, and what it's venom does for my power to be able to tell me something helpful. That's why I only memorized data on the local venomous critters like the brown recluse and black widow. Broken bones? Again, if I learn on my own all about bones, how they break, and how to diagnose it, then my power supplies the rest. But first I'd have to know the problem is a broken bone. Otherwise I won't know to ask my power for the best way to fix it."

I stop glaring at him, mollified. Sounds like he's really on top of this then.

"I was fairly confident that I could keep you alive long enough to get you to a hospital, if you didn't immediately die. Brain swelling? I could have put in a temporary shunt, I've learned how to diagnose that. Heart problems? I could have probably fixed it since I made myself memorize long ago the patterns that could be shocked into normalcy, and could use my power to know what to do if it just stopped entirely. The only tricky part would have been figuring out what was wrong. So no, I didn't lie, you just overestimated my powers effectiveness. I _am_ sorry, if I had known you thought I was equal to a real doctor, I'd have warned you that it wasn't like that."

I guess I _had_ overestimated his power. It's not his fault I assumed things. But I'm really glad that nothing bad happened when we tested killing me. Who knows if he would have figured out the problem in time, to be able to ask his power for the right technique.

"I guess I did have unrealistic expectations... Sorry for accusing you of lying to me." I apologize in between deep breaths, as I peddle like mad on the stupid rickety bike.

"It's ok, I should be used to it by now, should have thought to warn ya that my power is pretty lame. Oh hey, you should be going faster, intense bursts, remember?"

I focus, get angry, and go as if I'm trying to escape an Endbringer on that horrible bike. Eventually after another thirty seconds of torture, I have to stop and collapse. I only flop on the floor for a few seconds before Uber literally picks me up by my armpits, sets me on my feet, and tells me to "Walk it off."

This exercise routine better be worth it, I swear to all that is holy...

"So..." I breathe out after a few minutes of walking and grumbling to myself. "Those were my major two questions about cape stuff. I did also want to confirm a theory that capes tend to avoid exposing secret identities? I noticed that there are lots of capes who could figure out secret identities easily, but villains and heroes don't seem to get hunted down and captured or attacked in civilian identities that often. I figured there must be a reason why, and it is likely because of 'mutually assured destruction' right?"

"Yup, clever to figure that out on your own. Good thinking As-Taylor. There are a few unwritten rules that you learn if you hang around long enough. If a cape breaks one, then the others tend to briefly put aside their differences and team up to take you down. Civilian identities are a major one of course. If you know someones secret, don't reveal it or use it in an obvious way unless they do so first with yours, or if they become an S class threat. Otherwise everyone will come gunning for you in retaliation."

"S class?"

"Yeah, it means kill on sight basically. They are a major threat and can't be allowed to roam free. Birdcage or death."

"Huh, so you two didn't go to the Birdcage when you went to jail, because you guys weren't an S class threat?'

"Yup, minor villains like Leet and I are left to roam mostly free, or get minor punishments, because of the unspoken assumption that we all band together in the face of a greater threat. If every captured villain went to the Birdcage, then that would eliminate half the capes fighting the Endbringers and other S class threats like the Slaughterhouse 9. Humanity overall would lose, since most of the really strong capes tend to go villain. There's a reason why the Endbringer truce is so respected. Even selfish guys who want to rule the world realize that first, there has to be a world to rule."

"Yeah, like when Purity ended up helping us against the Simurgh. She's pretty powerful, so I guess it's better for her to be free to help, compared to being in the Birdcage. Especially since I don't think she's ever done anything really bad, not compared to others like Hookwolf who are confirmed mass murderers."

"Yeah. I suspect he's gonna be sent to the Birdcage if he ever gets caught, he's too vicious to be worth keeping around. Guys like him get sent to the Birdcage as soon as possible, if they don't get kill orders. If a minor guy like me makes enough of a fuss to get captured a few times, they just end up in a max security prison, or else are forced to join the Protectorate, name-change, relocate, ect."

"It all seems a bit too 'nice', this truce between the sides. But I guess it makes sense in a way. The batshit crazy guys go away if possible, but someone just wanting to make money is given a chance to help fight off the truly depraved monsters. There are rules to the struggle between the law and the criminals. The gloves stay on, because everyone knows that they might need each other later."

"Yup. So, any more questions? They've all been good ones so far, I've been doing too much talking, and not enough lifting, heh."

"Nope, now it's the special request time. You know Panacea?"

He rolls his eyes at me. "Duh, I think people halfway around the world know about her." Admittedly, it was kind of a dumb question. I probably deserved that eye rolling.

"Right, so you need to make a DragonHide costume. It should look just like her normal one, white robes with the red cross on it. She's a touch shorter than me, and similar build, but since it's robes, make it loose anyways. You might be able to find her exact measurements online, since I know creeps post that kind of thing in the gross corners of the internet. Oh and I guess we should have extras, for when its laundry day. Make it five costumes, assuming that making DragonHide isn't costly for you guys?"

"No, the fabber does the hard work and the chemical goop we need is surprisingly not that pricey. The formula is based off organic materials like spider-silk but even stronger, similar to kevlar or zylon fibers, but arraigned in a more organized way with carbon nano-tubes added in for a bit more structure, to improve the strength of the total material. The input's cheap, mostly polymers and carbon. It's the arrangement that's the hardest part, and the fabber takes care of that."

"Good, then that's what I need, preferably soon. Hmm, actually is it possible to make it all anti-bacterial too? Or will that not work with the DragonHide cloth?"

"Uh, it should be possible, usually adding a bit of silver does the trick for that, although it will be a bit heavier and slightly less bulletproof. Please tell me you are going to be giving this away to her, and not trying to impersonate Panacea?"

"I'm not stupid enough to try to impersonate Panacea!" I snort at the idea. That would be a sure fire way to get killed by pretty much everyone.

"No, Amy told me that she only has normal cotton costumes right now and that her family isn't shelling out for expensive ones until she stops growing. But I'm pretty sure she's a bit older than me and is probably done growing up now. If we make her a costume now, even if she gains a few inches, it should still fit just fine, maybe show her ankles at most. I'm not a hundred percent sure her family can afford expensive stuff like this anyways. They probably have lots of security expenses to pay, being pretty much the only cape family publicly known for not having secret identities."

I grunt as I lift a weight that I'm pretty sure is gonna rip my arms off if I do this too many times.

"Now for the brilliant master plan part. Amy is pretty awesome, always helping people for free, and deserves nice things for being so cool. I go give them to her, and tell everyone that this new Tinker cape made them, my new teammate, and he is willing to sell the fabric to other good guys, but she gets a free sample cus she's nice."

"Oh, that might work actually, would be a good way to get income for the team, and if they think it's a new cape instead of Leet, they won't turn up their noses at it or try to steal it away from 'villains'. Hmmm, but once it's publicly known someone in the city has this kind of thing, our crappy security will _not_ hide the fabber for long. No-one wants to steal from Leet and get something that backfires, but they _will_ want to steal from a new guy with valuable merchandise. I think the only other major source of DragonHide is in the Toybox, and I imagine their source is very well protected by that group of Tinkers. Our machine would draw out a lot of thieves looking for an easy profit."

"Yeah, I figured that might be a problem once I learned this stuff was expensive. But luckily for you guys, I've had a few days to think about solutions! We can meet with the PRT shortly after telling New Wave about the DragonHide. As much as the PRT sucks, this part is important since they are still overall the most powerful group that is even somewhat good. I've also have thought about us doing this with the Guild instead, they seem much less corrupt and are quite powerful, if less numerous. Dragon manages to keep her technology safe, it shouldn't be too hard to just add our fabber in with her stuff. It would be harder to meet with them however, as they are based up in Canada."

Uber nods as he listens to me, encouraging me to continue outlining my plan. It's nice to be taken seriously by someone older and more experienced.

"Whoever we go with, we sign a contract with them, something like we provide them with X amount of fabric each year in certain colours, they pay us gobs of money, and are now in charge of security for the fabber. Maybe they have to move it to a secure location that we can still reach, to be able to run the machine. They won't be able to say no to equipping their heroes and the ordinary troops with this stuff if we make the deal lucrative enough. We can even make it so that if they fail to protect the fabber and it get stolen, not only do they lose the fabric and the contract, but maybe we get them to pay a huge penalty fee of some kind."

Mark stops exercising completely as he thinks this over. A slow smile spreads across his face. "That could actually work. We'd have to get a lawyer to help with the contracts, and get a secure account to put all the money into, but there's this guy, Numbers Man, he should be able to help us do both. We've used him before, when were were richer and Rogues instead of villains. We hadn't trusted him much before, but the only money we had left after our fall from neutrality was the stuff we gave him, so he's pretty good."

Mark literally does some kind of twirling dance, shaking his butt madly, as well as his fists in the air comically. I doubt he is using his powers right now, cus it's _way_ too silly looking.

"Woohoo! We're gonna be rich! Hahahahaha... You're brilliant Ash! Er, Taylor. They'd have been too suspicious of a new cape with Tinker powers, and his teammate with some fighting skill, they'd have known it was us in a heartbeat. But noooo, we get the awesome Mover newbie, who's totally legit! Hah, and if _you_ make a new Tinker friend, then it's totally believable. I doubt they'd waste their fancy Thinkers on trying to figure out if we are disguised criminal capes, not with you on the team and no reason to suspect us. We're gonna be rich!"

His little happy dance winds down to a conclusion as I ask him in alarm, "Wait, crap, I didn't think about Thinkers with scary mental powers. That might be a problem. Ok, so they probably won't immediately think that my Tinker friend is Leet and pull in expert bullshit detectors, but if they see the two of you together, there's no way they won't still be able to tell! Leet's slouch is so distinctive, and so is your voice!"

"Hey, I am perfectly capable of changing my voice and mannerisms with my power!"

"Leet isn't. Dude, I recognized him in a completely unfamiliar costume in an instant because of his posture. Admittedly, I sorta knew he was coming, but it's still noticeable. My own Thinker boost was enough to let me know one of the Ward's secret identity, and basically prevent me from ever joining the PRT because of it. Any one of their people with a better Thinker ability than mine would be able to tell it's him easily. You might have acting ability, but that's not gonna help everyone. Fuck, this might not work."

I pace back and forth, listening to the metal floor ring out softly under my footsteps, trying to think my way around this new obstacle.

Uber sounds much less excited as he swears in disappointment, "Fuck indeed. Ok, I'm gonna finish up my workout, go home, and tell him in the most gentle way possible that he's gonna have to learn acting skills and better posture if we want to be rich. You might be right, this won't work as is. We can't rely on the unwritten rules to make them turn a blind eye to us, not if we are too obvious."

"Well, it was a good idea while it lasted. I guess we can talk more later once he knows about my idea. We can try to figure out a solution together, I don't want to exclude him from the planning. Plus I still have to learn exactly how his power works, and explain mine to you guys."

"I have to admit, I'm dying of curiosity. I know you get information from the afterimages and have better control of them than you let on, but it will be interesting to know the details."

"Soon, just wait a few more hours. I'm gonna do a bit more but I'm keeping this workout short today. Oh and warn him that if I suddenly disappear during the meeting, it means my dad came home for lunch and I'm pretending to have been home all day. At least my power is handy for living a double life."

"It looks like it. I'll admit I'm a bit envious, your power is much cooler than mine."

"Maybe, but yours is probably much more useful in your every day life. You pretty much get to cheat at everything."

"A bit, yeah." He nods at me and goes back to his workout, me to mine. We fall into a companionable silence for the next half hour. The sound of waves, seagulls, and heavy breathing accompany our churning thoughts.

* * *

I teleport into their kitchen through the window at noon exactly, making that self the new Prime. This time I was in costume since if I had time after the meeting, I was going to test out the wing-cape. I still had to figure out how useful it was going to be and if I should keep it for the final design.

I find them playing some kind of video game and eating Chinese food in the living room. "Boo!" I shout out gleefully. Freedom has made me giddy after three days of nothing but my dad. I missed having friends, I never wanted to be friendless again. (Stupid Emma.)

Dom swears and drops his controller, and Mark half-chokes on his food. Counting this as a well done scare, I plop onto the unoccupied couch.

"I hate you Mark, this is _all_ your fault." Dom informs us with his usual loving tone. Mark is too busy coughing to reply.

"So, let's get this meeting started. Mark told you about the fabber idea this morning?"

"Yeah. I'm still trying to think about my options for deception. For now lets get get the dirt on you dude."

"Sure, fair's fair. I'll do the most important first. My deepest darkest secret that you can't ever tell anybody cus it might get me killed, is that every afterimage is actually _me_. I'm like a hive mind, but only with myself. I normally can make four selves, but a fifth pops out sometimes when I am fighting Mark, very scared or really mad. I sense everything my selves sense, but I only have one mind to think with. It's like I'm controlling a few extra sets of limbs, they merely happen to be located in a different place than the rest of me."

"Oh, wow." Dom looks impressed.

"So at any time, I can collapse into any single self that's up, then melt the rest. So if two get injured, I just pick one that is not hurt to be the final me. If one self works out all morning while two others watch the phone in case my dad calls home, then if I want to keep the workout benefits I have to keep that self and melt the other two."

I can't help but fidget nervously a bit on the couch as I keep talking. "The upside to this is that unless you kill _all_ of me, then I can't die. I'm trying to keep this a secret so that if some evil asshole tries to kill me later, they will think they only have to get the newest me, and will hopefully ignore the 'afterimages'. This might save my pathetic butt from a really powerful cape that is capable of killing all of me in a single attack. It already helped against the Simurgh, so I figure it's a good strategy. So even if we split up later, if you actually care about me not dying horribly, don't tell anyone about this, ok?"

"Wow, that's, uh, different than what I was expecting." Mark manages to say, having finally cleared his windpipe.

"Don't worry, no fucking way I'm spilling that secret, not if you really think it might keep you alive." Dom salutes sloppily, having fished his controller out from under the coffee table where it had fallen.

"Right, ok, good. So, the more selves I have up at one time, the more energy I use up. I can only do so much in a day. All-out with my full five is fifteen minutes max, but taking it slow with only two is good for two hours. The time limit for any individual self that is _not_ what I like to think of as the 'Prime', is five seconds. Only one Prime at a time. I can send out selves leapfrog style in up to two directions at once, and then shuttle items between the two locations by shifting which self is Prime. It's complicated to describe. If I mess up with this shuttling, I can lose stuff forever. No clue where it goes, so I don't do it much right now."

I shrug, then decide to give them an example.

"For example, right now a self is home, in a few seconds, I will send out a new self to somewhere I can see to keep the cycle going. Probably into my kitchen. This new self could be a copy of the one at home, or it could be a copy of the me here. So if I grabbed your lamp, I could take it with me by duplicating the me here, lamp and all. This new self will make another me, and again, it can be a copy of whichever me I want, keeping the duplicated lamp going."

"Not the lamp!" Dom wails in mock horror.

I roll my eyes at him, "Now your lamp won't disappear right away, not unless I change the self at home to the new Prime, making the me standing here a brief-lived afterimage. At that point the me at home will have successfully done a lampnapping and yours would disappear. But if I don't make that one Prime, then the self at home has a copy of your lamp for a few seconds, and the copy will just melt away when it's time is done. You follow that?"

Mark nods, brow furrowed in concentration. Dom agrees with a loud, "Fuck, that's complicated, but it not the worst thing I've ever had to decipher."

"Good. So this lets you be generous in what you lend me to use, since you get it back in mint condition at the end of the day. Now, I _can_ take living people and things with me, I was able to rescue some kids a few days ago. But there are problems with that. First off, they seemed to have sensory problems. I don't think they could handle being temporarily duplicated. It works ok for a rescue in dire circumstances, but I doubt it would ever let someone fight duplicated alongside me."

"That's too bad, but understandable." Mark sounds disappointed.

"Secondly and more limiting, my mass limit means that I could only take kids that were around a hundred pounds or less. Right now my main theory is that it's tied to my body weight, but it's hard to test without waiting a few months for a noticeable change in my weight. So unless you want to lose a lot of weight and maybe a few limbs, no piggy back rides for you guys. If I manage to gain weight from eating lots of extra food and working out like mad, there's a slim chance that my mass limit might increase. Incidentally Mark, are any of my current workout routines designed to decrease weight along with increasing muscle? If so, I'll want to _not_ do those now that I can tell you that I want to gain weight."

"Said no female ever!" Dom fake whispers behind the back of his hand to Mark.

Ignoring Dom, Mark replies, "You said you go running in the mornings on the off days? I didn't object before, but now that I know your true goal, you might want to focus on sprinting and not jogging. Less cardio, more intensity. Might help."

"Ok, I'll try that. Anyways, I can make my new selves appear in any position I want, sitting, standing, looking in different directions, silly poses, etc. Teleporting works though binoculars, and it works despite my glasses and contact lenses, so other lens type things shouldn't affect it. I want to eventually test this with a telescope. I'd love to try teleporting through a live camera feed, so I'm hoping that you guys can help me test that. I already know that video that is _not_ live does diddly squat. Oh and I can't teleport into a spot that won't fit me. This includes any large objects I try to teleport, if it won't fit, it won't work."

"If it fits, it sits." Comes another annoying fake whisper. I firmly ignore it.

"Another thing that would be nice to finally test more, is momentum. I already figured out that new selves are generated in a stationary, non moving position, relative to the planet Earth. I can be running fast, but the new me won't have any of that momentum. If I appear in the sky, I start to fall down to the ground even if I try pointing my feet towards the sky. I'm curious if my momentum is always at rest compared to the Earth, or only to the nearest large mass, or what I am trying to teleport in relation to."

"Hmm, interesting question." Mark looks quite intrigued, along with Dom.

"I can use myself as an 'anchor' for teleportation, thinking about porting in front of me, to my side, anywhere I can see. But I can also teleport by thinking about objects as the anchor, trying to port to the top of a building, or into a certain room. So trying to teleport onto a moving object, like say inside of a truck or airplane? It could get very messy very fast as the vehicle continues at speed without me matching it, or my power might compensate for it and let me do it safely. After all, the Earth is moving very fast around the sun, so _something_ is compensating for that movement, letting me port and not be splattered."

"That's a really good scientific question. We don't know what causes powers, or why they usually have built in safety features like that. I'd guess that you would probably end up matching the speed of the vehicle, but even if your power ends up not doing that, it might still be useful since you can survive it and possibly use that difference in momentum to stop or slow others."

"Well if we ever get some fuckin money, we can rent a van for a day and test it. But until the movie is finished, we are kinda running low on funds. I can set up the snitch at least, test that video crap easy enough. The rest will wait. Hmm, I might have a telescope somewhere actually, I'll go look around later."

"Thanks Dom. Hopefully it works and we can use the snitch to spy and sneak me into places to mess up the gangs and criminals."

"Ooh, since we are going all heroic and shit, we should totally mess with the Merchant's first. That scum deserve it, no-one will miss it if we clean them up and stop their little drug empire."

"Maybe. They would probably be an easy target for us, since we are new. I'd hate to go up against the E88 or ABB as the first gang to take down. But first don't forget, you have to tell me about your power Dom."

"Ah, yeah, fuck. Ok, so it's basically shit. Lemme rant here cus I hate having to explain this. So, every time I make an invention, even just a component, the error chance goes up for every future version of it. Consider your humble lightsaber, a weapon for a gentleman, a plasma blade that cuts through anything, you know it?"

"Yeah, I've seen the movies." I nod at him.

"This is how I'd go about designing it right now. First I think about the power source. If it was some minor item, I'd use a battery or hook it up to a power outlet if it was stationary, but a lightsaber won't work like that. It needs to be portable, and needs a lot of power to have the right plasma cutting effect. So do I power it using body heat? Nope, not enough power. Motion? It would only work for a microsecond second after swinging it around for an hour. Solar, wind? Again, not enough power. So I go to more exotic types next. Burning fuel? Not enough space. I could build a hyper-battery to store a lot of power the the handle, but it would take forever to charge. Good possibility, but done a few times so some error rate. Will eat power fast, so no more than a minute of use, max."

Lots of issues just with the source of power, I can see why his inventions tend to have problems these days.

"Miniature nuclear power plant? Doable. But I've already made a few nuclear power sources to power other crap, so the chances of it melting down are middling to high. Surprisingly safe on meltdowns if built right, and trust me, I make sure to build em as safe as possible. However getting the materials is pricey. Not worth the cost. So we move on, ZPE? Made two already before I realized how dangerous they are, too risky now. If one explodes, the actual, literal planet might break. So I don't make them anymore. I hid the second one so I can't use it _ever_. I know the error rate is very low with only the second item made, but still too risky for my tastes."

Wow, I can't help but look at Dominic in a new light at the revelation that he's made a power source that can literally break the planet. I never realized how open ended 'build anything' could be, even if he has a serious limitation in repeating it.

"Fusion or fission? Anti-matter, matter annihilation? Some possibility of a strong backlash, a bit risky for something I want to hold in my hand and use a lot. Especially since when the power source goes? Explosions. That's how we ended up accidentally killing some dude. So since no power source will put out enough power and not kill me, I scale down the project. Perhaps a hard light illusion, or just plain old photons instead of actual plasma, less power needed. Now the hyper-battery looks reasonable for hard light, and a good heavy duty normal battery will give me the illusion. Unfortunately hard light got used too much. The glitch filled end results are too unstable, even for a few seconds. We managed to keep going for an impressive amount of time just filming very short cuts and not using them for live shows at the end, but it's pretty much impossible now. So illusion it is."

Dominic is waving his hands expressively throughout this, as if he can see the designs in front of him, and is pointing to specific parts of a diagram or chart.

"Illusion means that we can use a normal battery, so we get to save our hyper-battery for something else. So I can finally fuckin move on to electrical components. Most of it, thank the many tentacled gods, I can buy in a store, even if some are pricey. The casing can be normal, I don't need special materials to protect a crappy illusion blade. If there was gonna be actual plasma, I'd have needed some special metals for sure."

Huh, sounds like there are a lot of normal Tinker technologies that he's cut off from now, since the final result of this thought experiment sounds like it's not much better than some toy you could probably buy in a high-end store.

"Last is the illusion emmitter. This has to be tinker tech. I _could_ just attach a laser pointer to the end and call it a fucking day, but that's not even close to being a lightsaber. Voila! What started as a magnificent plasma lightsaber that could cut through metal, is now a dinky piece of shit that makes an illusion of a light blade, maybe makes a little humming noise when swung if I feel really enthusiastic. Complete crap."

With this he collapses on the couch angrily. "That's what my fuckign power does. Some days I wish we had made the goddamn Pokemon able to breed so we could at least have something to sell, but at the time were were too worried about getting labeled as the next Nilbogs."

"That really sucks. I guess you have to plan carefully every time you build something, huh?"

"Yup. You would not _believe_ the system of notes I use to keep track of every little goddamn thing that I specifically make with my power instead of buy or steal."

"Hmm, can't you re-use some stuff? Like the hyper-battery, whatever that is? It's a battery so you can move it to other inventions right? Can't you hook up the power sources from old projects to new ones?"

Dom literally groans, and flips open a nearby laptop. "Whelp, that makes one more tally mark in the 'Fucking obvious suggestion about Leet's Power' spreadsheet. One more down in the 're-use old shit' box."

"Dude, it wasn't really a suggestion, she was just asking and trying to figure out how your power works. Come on, it totally doesn't count!"

"Told you she'd have at least one. And yes it totally counts. Not a single day goes by that some _genius_ out there doesn't send us an email with rants about how to 'improve' my power."

Ouch, colour me embarrassed. Was that a rude question? I don't know cape etiquette, I didn't know that I couldn't ask that!

My face must have fallen, because he looks over at me and hurriedly says, "Oh, hey, don't looks so sad Tay. Seriously, don't like, cry or anything. I figured you'd have at least one, and it's a not bad question compared to most of the poorly thought out suggestions like 'just build a gun that kills everything' or 'just make a machine that gives you better powers'. If you didn't know about my powers next bullshit detail, it would totally seem like a good idea! Seriously, uh, don't be sad?"

I had been embarrassed at my rude blunder, but his panic at the thought that I might cry all over him? Priceless.

I think my fit of giggles ends up confusing him even more, and the ensuing laughter from Mark just sets me off again. Dom is powerless before the might of contagious laughter and it goes on for over a minute. I'm pretty sure that despite my fears of being treated like a 'little girl', I'm not going to have many problems once they are used to me, I'm possibly the most mature one of us all.

"Tay?" I ask skeptically, once things are a bit more calm and the three of us stop laughing.

"Shut up, I was panicking!"

"Hahahahaha, it's ok, I don't mind. But now that we can actually breathe again, what _is_ that little detail that stops my suggestion?"

"Oh, turns out that disassembling my old stuff to re-use parts has the same buildup of errors effect. First few times it worked fine, and we thought it was the solution to the problem. Hallelujah and crap. Then I nearly lose a few fingers trying to salvage some stupid hard light emitter. It imploded and destroyed itself."

"Ooch." I wince in sympathy.

"So now when we get desperate, I sometimes consider breaking apart old crap, but ever since the emitter incident, I take full precautionary measures to keep myself from getting killed. Eventually I'll end up destroying too much stuff to make it worth it." He shrugs dejectedly.

"Probably never gonna try dismantling a major power source, the explosion would kill me no matter how many layers of DragonHide I wear. We got a bit lucky, we have a few power sources that are built to be stand alone things, so we can plug in bigger inventions like the fabber. Things that are never meant to leave the warehouse. The only damn aspect of my power that seems to get no errors is maintaining inventions, fat lot of good that does us when there's is almost nothing worth keeping."

Wait, wait, wait. I've just had an idea. The best idea ever. I take my already too wide mouth, and stretch it into the widest grin I can manage, "Dude! My power and yours is stupidly awesome! I can fix this!"

"Bullshit!"

"Dom, dude, I think I can. You said errors are building up. But when an invention backlashes or melts down, it's random right? If it _is_ random, and not a built in error from when you first made it, then we can bypass it. I duplicate an object. I keep the copy bouncing around between two selves as you try to dismantle the Prime. If it backlashes, then I just make one of the copies the new real one, the new Prime. Then you can try again!"

"Holy mother of god. You're right." His face is a study of gobsmacked amazement.

Mark speaks up, "Huh, if this works, it could change things. We've hated forever that some of the best grav manipulators and their power sources are tied up in the moving platforms, we could finally dig them out and make flight harnesses, or mobile weapons platforms, or something awesome! With the few stable power sources we have, we could make new kinds of manipulators and emitters that need the power."

"Dude, you're right, it's enough to equip us all out as proper capes for once! One big problem though. Some of my best stuff, the most stable crap, it's hidden away in some PRT warehouse. If this works, if it's not another dead end... We'll have to get them back somehow. We need that shit."

"Ok, calm down guys. Before we make plans, we have to test this. I'm running out of time today, but later in the week you can show me your secret lab-warehouse-base-thing, we grab something small and fast to dismantle, and do that over and over till we are satisfied it works. In the meantime, we should think about the hero group we are making, and Dom's acting problem."

"Right, well at least I know I can't be 'The Maker' after all, the name totally is taken." Dom sighs dramatically, "Figures. Maybe I should just hide in the shop, equip you two, and pretend that Mark is me? Then we don't have to worry about my crappy acting ability."

"Aw, come on, I'm sure you could learn with some practice. If you would actually come to the gym with me, we can even get you some muscles! No one would ever be able to recognize the new improved you!"

"Eh, I think I'd rather pretend that I'm a girl then actually work out that much, I've seen the horrible tortures you put yourself through. Besides, no way anyone would connect the new female Tinker with Leet."

"Uh, I think that might be a little bit too much gender swapping guys. We might as well have Mark pretend to be a girl to complete the theme if we go this route."

"Nah, he'd never pull it off. Too much upper body muscle. I was mostly joking, but the girl thing's actually not a half bad idea. Hmm, ok so far the only two ideas I have are pretending to be a girl, or pretending that Mark is the Tinker and I don't exist. What do the rest of you have?"

"Nothing nearly that imaginative. Honestly dude, I doubt you can pull off acting like a girl, and I'd feel really shitty taking the credit for all your hard work. I really don't like either plan, my plan of some hard work and acting lessons is much more reasonable."

"Ugh, I told you, I don't -"

"Hey, hey, guys! Stop it. I haven't hung out around you for that long, but even _I_ can see that this argument is going in circles. You both have stated your ideas, and you don't like the others plan. So we keep looking for other options now, something we _all_ like."

They both end up rolling eyes and saying at the same time, "Yes, Mom."

"Nu-uh. If I'm gonna have to keep breaking up fights like this, I want to be the boss. That's 'Yes oh Mighty Overlord' if you know whats good for you!" I mockingly warn them. To my delight, they play along perfectly.

"Yes oh Mighty Overlord." They both once again say at the same time, this time Dom throwing in some grovelling. It all reminds me of playing around with my mom and dad when I was younger. I half expect to have the moment ruined by the usual feeling of loss I get when thinking of mom, but it seems like this time is different.

Instead I remember more silly stuff like this, memories I had long ago forgotten. Mom and Dad would usually pretend to be heroes or villains, and I'd get to be the minion helping them. Mom was always a much better villain than good guy. It's just not the same with only me and Dad joking around, it's lost most of its magic. But I guess I can still have a bit of it in a new way, with these two knuckleheads.

The moment is quickly ruined by my Dad's car pulling up in the driveway. "Crap, Dad's home for lunch guys! I'll call you later but I can't film till Wednesday."

"Aw man, we had a thing going."

"Alas, till next time oh overlord."

"Bye!"

With that, I make a self back home the new Prime and melt the rest away. I'll have to ditch my costume fast, maybe I can pretend I was in the shower? Looks like I'll have to test the wing-cape later.

* * *

Falling. It's such a rush. I think sky-diving is my new favorite sport. I don't even care that it's still the middle of the day and people can probably see me. I mean, I'm still shy, but after going out to fight the Simurgh, I'm pretty sure I officially count as a cape now, no more sense in hiding my existence. I can't exactly test my power easily in the dark anyways.

I port up to just below a fluffy white cloud, high up above me. I'm pretty sure I must be thousands of feet up in the air. Falling down to the ground, I keep my arms tight to my side, not letting air go into the wing-cape. This time I'm going to see how low to the ground I dare get before I use them.

The wind rushing by my face is cold, and it's also really loud. I imagine this is what being in a tornado is like. I'm quite glad I have a scarf to wrap around my face, even if the end keeps getting free and whipping around. I plummet to the center of the city, controlled, calm, and yet thrilled, excited.

I can easily angle my body slightly to slowly change my position and move around the sky, but I have to be careful not to let air into my wing-cape.

The first few times I tried this, I lost control, spinning around dizzily and almost puking. I ended up looking up some sky-diving videos and facts about the sky before making another attempt. Research about this kind of thing is clearly important. I can't ignore the fact that plenty of ordinary people have been doing this kind of thing for _decades_ before I ever came along with superpowers.

The buildings below me start to resolve themselves into a sea of boring rooftops and the occasional glittering spire of a skyscraper. I'm pretty sure that soon it will be too late to use the wing-cape, so I arch my back into the position that seems to be working the best, throwing my arms and legs out wide.

The air immediately fills the feather streamers that have been dangling behind me, puffing them out into a pair of wings and wrenching my arms backwards. I fight to resist the motion and feel my shoulders flare with pain. My fall is slowed, but not enough. Dammit, I think I dislocated my shoulder again. The pop of a shoulder coming out of its socket is pretty gross. It's manageable if I open the wing-cape at the start of my fall, but any time I try to do it after a few seconds of free fall? Pain and injury.

I dismiss the injured self well before I hit the ground, going back to one of my leapfrogging afterimages at home. I don't feel the pain any more, but I still rub my shoulders anyways from the memory of it. Alright, time to try again. I think perhaps if I had stronger arms, it would work better. I keep having to fight the air to keep my arms level they are forced backwards, reducing the air that goes into the wing-capes and making my landing way too fast. As cool as the design is, it's just not working too well.

It still works as long as I open up the wing-cape within the first few seconds, so I'll just have to do that in the future. Then I just have a leisurely fall to the ground over the next few minutes. But the few times I _have_ successfully done that, my arms were incredibly sore and hating me by the end. I have to keep them outstretched and rigid the entire time, fighting the urge to let them go backwards. Not fun. I've tried going lower so I fall for a shorter period of time but it is still incredibly hard to gauge distances in the sky. I keep ending up below the damn clouds.

I'm thinking that slowing my fall is pointless. If I go high enough up, then I have plenty of time to pick out a place to port to, even falling at max speed. The real problem is controlling my height.

I look out the window and pick out a nice fluffy cloud, I think it looks a bit like a giraffe. Then I'm looking down at the coastline, starting to fall. This time is for fun, so I angle my head downwards, putting on speed. I'm going fast, darting down head first, no plans to ever stop. Adrenalin pumping, gut churning, pure speed. I'm as streamlined as I can make myself.

As I plummet to the city, I aim for it's heart. Subtle movements of my arms and feet get me right above the main sports stadium. I try to aim for the middle of it, but it's a bit hard, so I'll have to settle for off center. I melt that self away at the last second after seeing the ground seem to leap up at me. I can't help it, I collapse on my bed, giggling. My heart pounding and barely slowing down as I take deep breaths. This is the best power _ever_.

Ok, I have barely any mental energy left after all the secret meetings I've been doing today, time to wrap this up. I'll play around a bit more with the tricky air currents around the sky scrapers, and then go stash the costume.

I head out once more, this time aiming for a cloud that looks like an apple with a little worm coming out of it. Or maybe a balloon? I'm up, and as I head down I pick out a nice skyscraper, gleaming and visible in the afternoon light. I port right to it and deploy the wing-cape before I have a chance to build up too much speed. Arms outstretched, I use ever bit of muscle I have to try to steer myself, aiming to spiral around the building for the few seconds it will take to reach the ground.

At first the wind is lifting me, pushing me away from the building, slowing my fall even more. then as I drop lower slowly, it changes to try to knock me into the side of the building. This time I'm ready for it, and use the push to briefly stand sideways on the building and jump off. Haha! I laugh out loud from the thrill, and adjust my angle a bit as I am now being sucked down by a large downdraft of air, heading for the ground.

Normally at this point I'd have to melt this self to avoid hitting traffic or people, but this time it looks like I got lucky, this building has some kind of little park attached to it on the side that I'm on, with a little water feature right in the middle. Probably meant for the workers to eat lunch, judging from the tables and chairs scattered around. I decide to practice my landings a bit more, and aim for an empty spot in the little courtyard.

At the last moment I tilt my body so that I can land feet first, trying to remember to bend my knees to absorb some of the impact. I end up falling forward from some of the leftover momentum, catching myself with my hands unintentionally. As soon as I had stopped falling, the air resistance stopped, shooting my arms forward since I had been fighting this entire time to keep them out. It made it look like I had done it on purpose I suppose. Oh well. I stand up and brush myself off.

Looks like I had come a few feet from hitting the little water fountain. That would have been embarrassing. I drop my arms to my side limply, sore from the work I've been putting them through. I can see some random people staring at me from the sidewalk, and decide I better get out of there before the start trying to talk to me.

This time instead of melting my Prime, I send out a copy, sore arms and all, into my bedroom through an afterimage. Only after, do I melt the self getting all the attention. After all, holding my arms out like that is a major workout, if I don't keep the soreness and pain, I'll never get better at it. Ugh, it sucks though. I spend a few minutes just as my lone self, resting and recovering my strength.

Glancing at the clock, I realize that I've been taking too many breaks between skydiving attempts. Dad will be home soon to ruin my fun. Eh, I think I can fit in one last skydive run.

* * *

AN: So I had it pointed out to me that Taylor should not have known the classification system of capes, since in the original story she was told the details of the cape world by Tattletale, including the cops and robbers stuff. I've gone back and edited the story a bit to remove all that stuff, along with a few other fixes. If you've been reading the chapters immediately as they come out, you might want to go back and re-read, but it's nothing major, just making the story more readable and make more sense.

That's why you get a long boring it of explanation here in this chapter. It's mostly for Taylor's benefit, and new readers I suppose. Not as cool as the last chapter, sorry! The next chapter will have another bit of Panacea friendship fun to make up for it. And a chapter or two after that, the Undersiders make an appearance! :)

Oh and a fight! You like fights right? :P


	17. Letter Opener 2-5

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* * *

 **Topic: New Cape Seen Skydiving?**  
 **In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay**

 **Sleptic** (Original Poster)  
Posted on February 28, 2011:

So I don't post much on here, mostly a sports fan myself. But I totally have a cool vid for you cape geeks!

Me and some buddies were at the stadium, horsing around mostly, filming ourselves doing parkour n stunts on the bleachers. (Check out our stunts here! We go all over the city!)

We totally spotted this person falling from the sky, right at us! So of course we film it. :) A few of us totally panicked, thinking we were about to see a parachute malfunction and a gross splat. I blurred out our faces of course. (We did break into the stadium after-all...)

This cape just vanished right before hitting the ground! Looked just like they had melted away.

I don't recognize the cape, but my guess is it's some dude playing around with his new powers.

Since we film high quality stuff, you can see a lot of detail in our video, so enjoy and have fun speculating on the new guy!  
(Sure hope its a good guy, we have too many crooks in this city already.)

Cape Video Link!

 **(Showing Page 1 of 2)**

* * *

 **► Kail_Blade** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on February 28, 2011:  
Ooooh, nice vid. Ur prob not supposed to be promoting your stuff here, but I think I can forgive you this time! ;P

And this one looks like hes got a cape, literally! Or at least the tattered remains of one. Looks like lots of little cloth strips dangling behind him, did it get torn up in a fight?

oh no, arial battle!

I wanna know more, someone please say you know more! *begs*

 **► BretheBabbit** (Protectorate Employee)  
Replied on February 28, 2011:  
Ah, this dude. He's been buzzing downtown all afternoon, started after 3:30 pm. Stopped around 5pm.

Far as I can tell, he can't fly, only teleport. But he's been teleporting up high, then falling down, pretty much for fun it looks like.

The idiot has been scaring people and even hitting a few windows on his way down next to some skyscrapers.

Looks like he was going much faster in the vid you posted, when I saw him his little cloth strips had filled up with air, and were like a big, wing shaped parachute.

I'll admit it's a clever idea, a cape that turns into a parachute, but still not impressed with his careless attitude. I reported it to the higher ups, they didn't seem too alarmed so it not a known villain at least.

I havent heard anything else about him from the work grapevine.

 **► Delany5** (Power Guru)  
Replied on February 28, 2011:  
Definetly teleportation, and I'm gonna guess right now that they can cancel their momentum. Otherwise no matter where he teleported to after that much speed, he'd splatter.

I'll ask around to see if anyone 'in the know', knows more.

Also, you probably shouldn't be breaking into places to do parkour and stunts. Your videos are pretty much all the evidence a court needs to fine you, if they do ever figure out who you are.

 **► Kid Win** (Verified Cape)  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
I know this guy!

He's a good guy so far as I know. I heard he even went with Miss Militia to help with the Simurgh attack on Canberra last week.

He's still working on his cape name last I heard, right now we are calling him "Messenger".

I'm not gonna spoil his powers just yet, that's his choice or not. (But let me just say they are pretty sweet!)

I have to admit, this is a new look for him in the video. A much more quality costume than when we first met.

 **► Kail_Blade** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
OhMyGOSH!

*swoons*

Official Cape approval guys!

Oooh, I wonder if the new guy is cute?  
do you think hes joining the Wards?

I mean, if Messenger met Kid Win, its totally possible.  
(the lucky cape gals, they have like, so many guys to pick from in the wards!)

Oh and I did a member search like the obsessive cape geek that I am, and totally found him! The_Messenger exists and is a verified cape, so it has to be him! He hasnt posted anything yet though, so I cant be sure its the one in the vid.

If he replys to my PM, I'll let you know!

*swoons again*

 **► XxVoid_CowboyxX**  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
Well well well, a new cape. Gonna be interesting to see what group he signs up with, or how long he lasts solo.

I suspect he is definetly a teenager. If he was teleporting around between 3:30 and 5, that sounds like a kid that got home from school and is messing around before his parents get home from work.

Bit of a show off isnt he?

 **► Victory88**  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
At least it looks like he's white. Too many 'ethnic' capes these days.  
But I'm sure we shall soon find out his true mettle, whether or not he is of better 'quality' than most.

 **► GreatAzureDragon**  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
I really wish that we could ban that guy and others like him, but this one seems to be too clever with his word choices and will probably get away with it.

I suppose I ought to be glad that E88 is barely a thing in my city, but I think the Teeth are much worse honestly. However you guys do have my sympathy for having to deal with racists.

I admit, I'm a bit concerned about the costume change Kid Win mentioned, mostly the white wings.

New cape goes off to fight Ziz, and comes back and adds white wings to his costume? Lets hope he's not been corrupted. We don't need more people joining the Fallen.

But hopefully Kid Win is right and Messenger is a good guy.

 **► Serialkeller**  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
Dude, I got a quick pic on my phone of this guy. He was going down around this skyscraper, and this time instead of dissapearing before he hit the ground, he actually landed. Totally faceplanted!

Hahahha, its f-n funny, and I wish I could have gotten a vid of it.  
Looks like the dude needs to practice landin. Pic is from after he landed, cus I didn't get my phone out fast enough to catch the fail.

 **► InfernalHell666**  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
Every tit with a billowing shower curtain behind them is now calling themselves a cape. Obnoxious, really. Anyone else think he's just some entitled brat, playing around, with no intention of helping anyone?

This is assuming it's even real 'found footage'. It seems a bit too perfect that someone with a good quality camera was there to film that. How many takes did it take to get the shot?  
No doubt one of these 'parkour' guys got powers and now they are all trying to elevate themselves to stardom riding their friends tattered coattails...

I think everyone is wasting their time on this new guy, I doubt he'll ever amount to anything useful. Capes these days are all flash. I'd gladly go back to the days where they were actually trying to help people and make a difference. Capes like Hero, that's what we need. Not brats!

 **► Saphrae** (Veteran Member)  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
Yeesh old man, go back to yelling at kids on your lawn why don't ya?

Anyways, I don't know why you guys are getting so toxic, can we focus on the story here, and not on rampant speculation?

We got a new cape, its a dude, he seems to be able to teleport, and is a teenager. Kid Win knows him, he's verified, but hasn't made a single post, so he probably doesn't even know we are talking about him.

(It would be really funny if the guy called Messenger only ever used Private Messages.)

So, we know that he probably needs to practice landings a bit more, but given that its possibly a home made parachute designed to look like wings? I'd say thats impressive anyways.

Does this guy have a Tinker rating too? Or maybe Thinker to be able to design something like that?

Anyways, I find it interesting that he looks like he melts away, not just dissapears. It seems like perhaps a clue that there are other powers than just teleportation?

 **► Edale_42** (Verified PRT Agent)  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
Can confirm that Messenger left to fight Ziz, but his costume was like in the video before he left, so it has nothing to do with it.

He was willing to step up, despite being new and just a kid, to fight a horrible monster. I think the kid is plenty heroic enough, no matter what he ends up doing.

*glares*

So cool it with all your crass remarks guys. I don't see you doing anything to help, otherwise you'd be joining the PRT. Even normal people can help fight the real evil in this world by being part of a team trying to do good. And if you are a cape and don't join the Protectorate, or help with Endbringers? then you are just scum, hero or villain.

Heck, even Purity was there a few days ago, standing next to Panacea and Messenger. So technically the racist villain was doing more to help the world than some of you lot.

 **► Sir_Psycho_Chainz** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
Hey, he only looks whitish in the video, and its impossible to see much detail about his face. He could totally be Asian! or Albino black guy!

Or maybe, hes actually a colony of wiggling white worms! Bound together in human form by dark (but eco-friendly) magic! Ooooooooh...

Hahah, but more seriously dudez, everyone seems to be overlooking somethin important.

The real important question is... Does he like cookies? and if so what kind is his fav?

 **► Kail_Blade** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
First off, wahts wrong with showing off your powers a bit? If I had any, I totally would!  
Second, he probably didnt faceplant, you're just lying for attention.  
Third, it dosent matter what race he is, he's still totally dreamy, and mysterious, and cool!

He's totally a n adventurous daredevil guy, did you see how close he came to hitting the ground? No way he isnt the kind of guy who is bold and confident.

He still hasn't PMed me back though, so still no idea if The_Messenger is actually him or not.

 **► Delany5** (Power Guru)  
Replied on March 1, 2011:  
Ok, I can't tell you how I know, but I've been told by a reliable source that the Messenger did meet with all the Wards for a tour apparently, but I don't know if this means he is joining them, or just went to say hi.

So it seems like he is going for angelic imagery for his costume based on the white wings combined with the name Messenger?

This might suggest more info about his powers or mindset, or he might just be religious and see the powers as a gift from god.  
Thats all I have right now, with so little to go on. Anyone else with pictures or video, please post!

* * *

 **End of Page. 1, 2**

* * *

 **Private conversation started with Kid Win (Feb 15, 2011):**

 **The_Messenger:** Hey, this the the guy from the mall rooftop. Uh, hi?  
 **Kid Win:** Hmmm... if you really are him, then what is your power, and what was my suggestion to you?  
 **The_Messenger:** I can teleport, and you told me that spray-paint would be handy for costume decorations cus I looked too evil.  
 **Kid Win:** Good!  
Ok, so they've agreed to a tour and helping with power testing, pretty much any time not during school hours.  
(They want you to meet with the rest of us Wards so it has to be a time when we are available.)  
Oh, but they do need a day of warning to set things up and organize schedules, so it can't be tomorrow. The earliest it could be is Thursday, assuming you respond today not too late.  
 **The_Messenger:** Ok, well I don't want to make them rush to change schedules, how about Friday, 4pm?  
 **Kid Win:** I'll pass the message on and let you know how it goes. (Although it should be fine, barring any emergency's.)  
 **The_Messenger:** Thanks! I guess I'll see you then.  
 **Kid Win:** Yup.  
Oh and I'll get a moderator I know to verify you, to make it easy on you later. Once you are verified, you will be able to use this account to tell the Mod's that your new name and account is X, and it will be easy to get all set up and official that way.  
 **The_Messenger:** Oh, wow, thanks! I guess that will come in handy later if I ever manage to decide on something.  
 **Kid Win:** Officially confirmed tour and etc.

* * *

 **Private conversation started with Kail_Blade (March 1, 2011):**

 **Kail_Blade:** Hey, are you the cape from this video?  Cape Video Link!  
 **Kail_Blade:** You look pretty cool if you are. ;)

* * *

I stare at my computer screen in disbelief. Page two of the thread is just more of the same. This worries me. A lot.

Not the part where someone had filmed me, it was admittedly a pretty cool video and my fault for skydiving in full public view. Nor was it the fact that people were digging around, trying to find out my powers and identity. I knew that would happen as soon as I was made known, I was ready for it. I was not bothered much by cranky weirdos, or racists who thought I might be a potential recruit.

I was even slightly flattered by the ones sticking up for me. Heck, I didn't even care that everyone seems to be calling me 'Messenger'. It's not like I had managed to come up with a name for myself yet, so I could hardly blame them for wanting to call me something.

No, the part that gave me the creeps the most? I had a _stalker_. A stalker after only _one day_ of me being public. An even worse thought strikes me and I shiver at the narrow miss. Thank god that I'm pretending to be a boy, if I had to deal with guys trying to hit on me constantly on here, I'd delete my internet browser. (Or at least my PHO account.)

I guess I can at least ignore a random girl here and there. There must be a way to block people on here, and I'm going to find it. Well, first I should thank Dom for pointing out this troubling development to me. I grab the cordless phone from it's temporary home on my bed.

"You still there?" I ask.

"Yup! So, what do ya think about your sudden celebrity status? It was only the one lone page last night when I first spotted it, but it's ballooned quite a bit since Kid Win posted. Any 'verified cape' post tends to attract attention. That plus the topic, I'd estimate this post will get at least to 30 pages by the end of the month. More if you keep doing publicity stunts like that."

"I'm more worried about my new stalker. Dom, how do I block people from messaging me? She's already sent me two!"

"You can't block your fans! They're useful if you get them working for you, but can be extra vicious if they turn on you. Mark and I have to do lots of media spin and management sometimes, we know all about it."

"But she thinks I'm a guy! She's trying to hit on me!"

"Well I don't advise trying to date a groupie. Are you even into girls? If not, it shouldn't be a problem, so just ignore it. Hahahaha, relax Taylor. We got this covered, ok?"

"It's just super creepy. I don't really like all the attention I guess. I'm too used to attention meaning bad things and incoming attacks." Wait, why do I keep confiding this kind of stuff to Dom?

"Ugh, yeah, I know what you mean. Just keep remembering that it's a secret identity, they aren't talking about _you_ , just this person you are pretending to be. I find it helps."

Oh yeah, that's why I keep telling him this stuff. He's probably been there, been bullied too. I mean, an un-athletic guy into video-games? Might not have been as bad as mine in the verbal insults and mind games department, but being physically bullied by boys might be just as bad as verbal snipes, if not worse. I can see why I'm more comfortable telling my fellow victim, rather than Mark and his personified perfection. I mean, Marks nice, really nice, but he probably wouldn't _understand_.

"Ok, I'm gonna try not to think about this too much. Thanks again for warning me about it."

"No prob. Is it ok to be on the phone like this, won't your dad get suspicious if he tries to call and the line is busy?"

"Nope! I'll just tell him he must have called when a telemarketer had me on the phone. Plus it will beep at me if someone else tries to call so I'll know to hang up on you."

"Cool, then I want to go over some media image stuff with you if you have the time? I know Mark's basically doing the gym thing with you in the mornings, so I figure I should be teaching you some crap from my side of things."

"Uh I guess?"

"Cool. So first off, you should pick an approach and stick with it. Present a consistent image online, and it will attract a following who like that kind of person. If you look like you get wild mood swings and are crazy, then people won't know what to expect and not like it. You also have to think about what you want to achieve. For example, Leet and Uber present silliness, fun, danger and coolness. We wanted people to think harmless, stupid, yet entertaining."

I go to a new tab as he talks, looking at what else is new on the PHO today. Maybe some info about how the people in Australia are handling the loss of a city? It's depressing but I do want to know more about it. I'm half paying attention to Dom and making 'uh-huh' noises as he goes on about 'image'.

"If you had a scary or deadly power, I'd advise you to pick something lighthearted and fun. Being too cold would only make you look dangerous, help people jump to conclusions easily, but not in a good way. But your power is rather inoffensive, no scary effects, no gross stuff, nothing immediately dangerous looking like spikes of bone or metal ripping out of your skin. So you can pretty much do whatever you fucking want personality wise. So what _do_ you want? What do you want people to think of you? Who do you want to be one day?"

That is a good question and I give it serious thought, forgetting about Canberra for the moment.

I keep on reacting, keep on letting others dictate my life. Acting meek to get bullies to lose interest, pretending to be the good daughter to get my dad to go easy on me. What do _I_ want to be like? I try to imagine myself as an adult, far into the future.

I want to be respected, to have people listen to me. I want to have the power to change any problems I find, to fix things. I want to have freedom, to be able to go places, see things, make choices without others forcing me into certain paths. I find that I don't really have a specific goal, not like the usual, 'get a house, get married, get a job,' type stuff you hear people talk about wanting.

I think that it doesn't matter, these things everyone else seems to want. They won't make me happy. Not if I don't have the more important stuff first.

"I want respect, power, and freedom."

"Well the teleportation is a good start on the last one at least. Respect and power go well together, but that means you don't want to be silly or frivolous online. You have to have a more serious and stern tone, but still compassionate. People don't want a heartless person to have too much power, even if they might respect them. Now, online junk is easy, you get lots of time to think over every word you type, you can craft it to be exactly right. I think you won't have a problem with this part, you and Mark both seem to have a flare for words. The trick will be acting like this in person."

"Yeah, I don't know how good at acting I am. I guess we'll find out?"

"Heh, I got lucky, Leet's personality is pretty much mine, but with a dose of stupidity to hide my keen intellect. I'm a dismal actor admittedly, so it's the best I can do. Hopefully the hero you want to become, isn't too far off from who you currently are. And you're still young, you will probably grow into it, if it's what you really want to be. Always try to think, 'what would the awesome future me do?' Then do that."

"Right, do what awesome me would do. Sounds easier than it probably is."

"Eh, the most important thing for your personality goal will be to be confident. Even if you have no fucking clue what you are doing, no idea what is going on? You pretend. You say things with conviction, you lie and bullshit if you have to. Even if you end up wrong later, people will remember the confidence deep in their subconscious, so it won't really matter that you were wrong. Basic Psych 101 crap."

"Ok, that sounds pretty reasonable. So does that mean I should start posting things online? I don't want to be all, 'hey, that was a cool skydiving trick huh guys?' because I want to be serious and compassionate, right?"

"Right, but you probably don't have to post anything just yet, no-one has actually said anything that really needs a global response. They seem to be having fun speculating among themselves. However you _should_ respond to the private message at least within a few days. Don't encourage her obviously, but don't be heartless and crush her feelings either."

"Sounds doable..." I'm not really convinced it will get her to back off, but I guess I'll try it. Can't hurt right? I flop back on my bed, trying to figure out if I should pretend to be a gay guy or not.

"Oh I just thought of something, you might want to consider adding a bit of mystery to your persona as that would help you expand the power and freedom aspects."

"Mystery? I'm a cape with a secret identity, how could I possibly be any _more_ mysterious?"

"I actually kinda like that Saphrae's suggestion that you only use private messages. You _are_ the 'Messenger' after all, it's appropriate and mysterious. And it would be kinda hard to change the name that the public has bestowed upon you. Plus I actually like it as a name for you, I doubt we would have been able to think of anything better. Now you could totally say, 'I'll deliver the pain' as your catch phrase!"

"Ugh, that's horrible and you know it. Plus I'm supposed to be a serious professional hero, remember? Silly catch phrases are an Uber and Leet thing."

"Damn, I guess you're right. Fuck, it was totally sweet."

"Yeah, no it wasn't. Anyways I guess I'm stuck with the 'Messenger' name now. Even if I wanted to quickly go online and post that my cape name was actually X, I still don't have a better name to tell people. Hmmm, but won't people will think the private message thing is silly and lame? It doesn't sound terribly serious to me, more like a cheap gimmick."

"Well, I did say it would only increase the power and freedom part, not the respect part. But yeah, I can see it backfiring. Ok, fuck that idea, new idea instead! This is even better. It is magnificent in it's simplicity and depth!"

"Oh?" I ask skeptical.

"First, you can message and post all you want. I'd still keep it down to infrequent posts so that you don't have to spend forever online reading, writing, and responding. That's the first step, only respond when important. The rarity should make your words have more impact due to the scarcity."

"Sensible. It might take a while for people to realize that when I post it's serious, but I'm planning on being around for a while so it's not a bad idea to build up momentum slowly. But it's only the first step?"

"The next step will be the hardest, but I have every confidence that you will be able to pull it off. You must be succinct. Brief. You will not mince words, you will not be a chatty cape. Way too many capes are chatterboxes. There is nothing special about it! I mean, look at me. I spew words around like I'm jacking off all over- Oh, crap, uh, I should probably not be saying that kind of shit around you."

"Kinda ew, but seriously not the worst thing I've ever heard dude. I _did_ go to the crappiest public high-school in the city. I'm a girl, not a soap bubble. I keep telling you, pretend I'm a guy, I don't want special treatment."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. I'm not used to hanging out with a girl. I'll try and remember to pretend that you're Mark."

"Hah, he'd only sound this high pitched if he was a castrato." I let out a snort.

"Oh god, don't even joke about that kind of thing!" He cries out in mock alarm.

I let out my best evil cackle, "Hahahahaha! Ok, moving on, you want me to be super brief online, but pack lots of meaning into each word? Basically like one or two word poetry?"

"Yup."

"Huh, nice, that's actually a neat idea. I suppose I should try to do the same when I'm in costume. Might be harder but I can start trying to be less verbal, at least among people I'm not friends with."

"Awesome, so keep it in mind every time you log in and post as the Messenger. Oh wait, crap, I just told you to log in from your home. I forgot you don't have our software yet!"

He actually sounds quite panicked now. "Shit, ok. I'm coming over right now to install my OS on your computer. It has a much more secure web browser and some neat programs for anonymity. It will totally be able to run everything you want it to, and if I'm wrong I'll make Mark update it till it can. As long as you aren't a complete computer noob, you should have no problems with it. Fuck, I'm a dumb ass sometimes."

"So much for that 'keen intellect' huh?" I tease.

"Shut up, and don't respond to the crazy chick till I get the new system installed."

"Wasn't planning too. Although don't actually come over until I call you back, my dad might do another attempt at coming home for lunch so best to wait till after lunchtime."

"In that case, I'll go to the lab and see if your Panacea costumes are out of the fabber yet. You can go deliver them while I do boring things with your computer. Loading times can be a bit of a bitch."

"Sounds good."

"Adios!"

"Bye."

With a beep, the phone falls silent. I let out a huge sigh and lever myself off the bed. If I'm gonna try being clever with words, I better start planning. I wonder if there is a single word that would work to turn aside stalker girl?

* * *

Dom was doing his thing back at my house, and I was doing mine. I had waited till 4pm to head on over to her house, since Amy might have after-school activities or take her time getting home. I had wrapped up her gift in some spare Christmas wrapping paper and a spare cardboard box from a toaster. Funny thing is I don't recall us ever having that brand of toaster, I wonder how we even got this box in the first place?

A bit of digging on the internet had told me where Amy lived. I kind of felt like a stalker myself, having to look up this kind of information. I hope I don't creep her out and give out the same stalker vibes.

Knocking nervously on the door to her nice looking home, I hide the present behind my back and cover it with the long cloth strips of the wing-cape. Hurrah for my secret hiding spot! (The hand behind the back kinds gives it away, so not actually much of a secret.)

After a good long minute, I figure maybe I didn't knock loud enough. I try again, harder this time. Crap, maybe they aren't home?

Thankfully for my nerves, the door finally opens. Glory Girl is standing there in a rather ordinary outfit, just simple dark blue jeans and a tight pink t-shirt with the word 'Princess' across the front. Makes sense, she probably won't go out patrolling until night, so no costume needed until then. I suppose that while she is out of costume I should be thinking of her as Victoria, not Glory Girl.

I'm about to stammer out my usual uncertain greeting, but then I remember the very recent lecture about image. Right, I have to be confident, serious, but concise. Straightening my shoulders and trying to look less meek, I think about phrasing for just a second. I don't have to work hard at it at all since I have two selves at home leapfrogging just in case dad calls. Go-go triple brain!

"Victoria?" I incline my head at her in a formal greeting.

"Yeah? You're that guy who showed up Thursday night for the Endbringer fight, right? Please tell me you aren't hiding a weapon behind you, cus that would be majorly dumb."

I ignore the weak spike of admiration/awe that accompanies her words. It is barely noticeable and only tells me that she must be a bit nervous or annoyed, to have let slip a bit of her power like that. I pull the gift out a bit so she can see enough to identify it. "Gift."

"Hmmm, I suppose I'll buy that. Still, I can't really take that, sorry. I don't really know you, we only met the once, plus I have a boyfriend. I suppose it's kinda my fault, I did hit you pretty hard with my aura that day, so don't worry about it, really. I won't hold it against you, but I can't accept anything. I don't want you to think the wrong thing, cus there isn't anything between us, ok?"

Wow, conceited much? I mean, sure her aura had been impressive, lots of awe and adoration feelings that were kinda nice. But was it really enough to make someone show up at her door bearing gifts? I doubt it.

In my annoyance, I barely remember in time to keep it short and simple, but I do manage to buy myself a touch of thinking time by shaking my head in negation. I decide that only saying Amy's name would make me sound dumb, not wise, and add on a few words.

"My gratitude is for Amy." I leave the silent 'not you' unspoken, and hide the present behind myself again to make sure she gets the message.

Instead of getting offended however, she actually reveals a predatory smile, creeping me out quite a bit. "Ooooh, this is new. This is great! A boy is here for _Amy_!" Victoria literally lets out a high pitched squeal, and lifts off the ground half a foot. Not jumping, _flying_. This girl sure doesn't hide her emotions at all, does she?

Then a frown mars her grin, and she stomps her foot in mid air in annoyance. "Fudge! She isn't here right now, otherwise this would be just too awesome!"

Oh dear, I suspect that Amy's sister is going to try to play matchmaker. Maybe I can get her to tell me where Amy is, so I can try to escape before she squeals loudly again? "Her location?" I ask hopefully.

"Oh, well if she isn't home after school, she usually goes out for a few hours and comes back for dinner. I think usually she goes to a friends place? Or else the hospital? Sometimes I drag her out to the movies or shopping but I'm obviously not doing that right now. Sorry I can't tell you more, but I guess you could just stay here until she gets back? We could talk and get to know each other more!" She ends, looking at me eagerly.

Translation? She'd grill me to learn if I'm 'suitable' for her sister. I know that kind of girl doubletalk! Thankfully she accidentally gave me an out, I'll try the hospital first! I can't wait around for supper time anyways, not with my dad coming home in an hour or so. I'll try again tomorrow if I don't find her at a hospital. Maybe try ambushing her after school lets out. I'm a teleporter, it's totally plausible that I'd be able to move that fast.

I shake my head at her again and give Victoria a parting mini bow. "Apologies and farewell."

Porting away before she can object, I look up at the sky speculatively. I can probably spot the hospitals from the air right? They have helicopter landing pads with big red 'H's' on them in the movies. Given that my computer is being upgraded right now, I can't just look at a map. Might be worth trying the hard way, I'll hit a few places before I give up and go home.

* * *

Four hospitals later and I finally managed to track her down. I'm going to have to make sure that a good map of the city is another item I take with me in costume, trying to locate stuff from high up in the air is _not_ easy.

I hadn't wanted to alarm the hospital security or anything, so once the nurse at the desk had told me that Panacea was in the building, I had asked for her to pass on the message that I was here and wanted to talk to her when she had a second. Trying to teleport around guards would only cause a fuss.

I had been sitting in the waiting room for almost an hour before Panacea showed up. It had almost gotten late enough that I'd have to give up and go home, but I guess she finally finished up what she was doing.

"Oh, hi Messenger. They said a cape was waiting for me but they didn't say who, so I figured it wasn't urgent. Sorry."

"Hey, no worry's. I had a hard time tracking you down, you're quite elusive. I have something for you."

I hold out the box for her to see. She looks kinda taken aback, and then angry. Crap, not that pleased at the gift then.

"Uh, you _do_ remember that I can't accept things from patients right? I am pretty sure I ranted to you about that. Seriously, _not_ gonna happen. I'm not going to play favorites and help you with whatever problem you have."

"No, no, it's cool, I don't need anything from you, promise! Plus I'm not a patient of yours, and I probably never will be. My power is pretty handy like that. This isn't a bribe, it's a present from a friend. Assuming we are kinda maybe friends? It's cus I know you don't have a cool costume, and I'm worried about your safety. I think you deserve something nice for being you, and having to deal with all this death and dying stuff."

"It's a gift, just because you want to be friends?"

"Err, maybe? I mean, you can keep it and not be friends with me, that's ok. I just had figured we had a thing, and wanted to maybe hang out with you more? And I'm really crap at this, it's all coming out wrong. Sorry! It's not only cus of that, it's well, because I wanted to?"

I hang my head, abashed. What was wrong with me? First girl in ages that I try to make friends with, and I'm screwing it up. No wonder I don't have any friends.

"You really tracked me down, just to give me a new costume?" Oh good, she sounds less suspicious, maybe I can fix this.

"Err, yeah. I tried your house first, but your sister said you weren't home, and that you were either at a friends, or a hospital. I don't really know who your friends are, so I thought I'd try hospitals today, and then try again tomorrow if I didn't find you. Oh, uh, I think she thought I was trying to be romantic or something, cus she was, uh, squealing and being excited that a guy was there to see you. I think she is under the impression that I want to date you, sorry."

"Sorry?" She sounds amused. "So you _don't_ want to date me then?"

I lean in towards her to make sure we aren't overheard by a passing doctor or nurse. "Uh, no, I'm not really into girls. But please don't tell anyone, it's not that I'm ashamed or anything, but I want to make it as hard to identify me as possible. If people know that the 'Messenger' is only into guys, it narrows the pool of suspects too much for my peace of mind."

"Oh. Hmm, I suppose I'll keep your secret, no reason not to." She gives me a shy smile, relaxing a bit and no longer looking as tense.

"Although this is going to make it hard to deal with my sister you know? She is no doubt already planning our wedding by this point."

"Wow, that's going a bit overboard. She must love playing matchmaker huh? Oh but anyways, go ahead an open the present will you? Unless you really didn't want it?"

"Well, if it's just a friend giving me a gift, I suppose it _is_ harmless. I do accept birthday gifts from family and friends, so it's not totally weird. The first sign of you trying to take advantage of me however, and I'm pretty sure Vicky will introduce you to a world of pain, if I don't get to you first." She warns me seriously.

I hold my hands up in mock defense, "Hey, no argument here. Heck, I'd be first in line for kicking my own butt, and I can easily do it too!"

I demonstrate by making a new self, then punching my old self in the face hard before dissolving it. Ouch. But hopefully worth the brief moment of pain to get her to stop looking so darn defensive. Amy must have a lot of people trying to befriend her for her powers, for her to be this bristly at the merest sign of gratitude or generosity.

"Uh, are you ok?" She asks confused, with a bit of alarm.

"Yup, it's just an afterimage. I can leave it behind after teleporting if I want to, so I can literally beat myself up if needed. Feel free to kick my afterimages ass any time you need to de-stress." I offer her with a wide grin under my scarf.

It works as she lets out a short laugh, "Heh, I might do that one day. Ok, lets see if you got my measurements even close to right shall we?"

She breaks into the present, quickly getting through the wrapping and poorly taped up box. Holding up one of the robes to her body, she comments, "Looks good. How many are in there? I wasn't expecting more than one."

"Five I think? That way you can have some in the laundry and still have some to wear. We added some antibacterial stuff to it too. This way if you touch a sick person and your sleeve also hits them, it will help stop you from transferring that to another person if you touch their open wound with the same sleeve. That way you can worry less about your clothes." I mention with excitement.

"Oh, I usually never have to worry about that, I can neutralize any bacteria that I touch and anything that gets onto the patient. That was still thoughtful of you guys, since you didn't know that. However I don't really need _quite_ so many costumes, so you _might_ have gone a bit overboard. Maybe I could trade in a few of these to get a costume made up for my sister? Or someone else in my family? It might be nice if we could get everyone in New Wave with bulletproof stuff. The skintight style they favour means that they have to rely on their force fields far too much. I'd feel better if they had an extra layer of protection, and I'm totally willing to give up a few copies of my costume for that."

"Well trading in the costumes won't really work. Once they are made, we don't really have a way to re-use the material or turn it into something else. It's easier to simply make a new costume, so you might as well keep the extra ones anyways, we'd just throw them out. But if you want some costumes for your family, we could give you guys a good price so it's affordable. A special 'family of a friend' discount!"

"But not free?" She asks skeptically.

"Well no, it still costs money for materials and for my friend to maintain his equipment, I kinda used up a favour to get him to make yours using some of the leftover stuff. We can still do it for pretty cheap compared to the Toybox, but we need at least a bit of money to replenish supplies and stuff."

"I suppose that's fair enough. So who is this friend of yours who so freely supplies you with DragonHide costumes on demand?"

"We don't have a cape name for him yet, sorry. I can let you know once he's picked something."

An idea strikes me. "Hey, you could even meet him if you wanted. He did most of the work after all, I just had the idea. We could meet with your whole family, with all of New Wave, and talk about the costumes, prices, and so on. Maybe get old costumes from them so we have something to copy? Yours was easy since it's a simple robe, but I think for the rest of them, we'd want something we can take measurements off of."

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea actually. If the price is good enough, New Wave would have no problem paying for it. I'll show them the costumes you gave me the next time there's a family meeting, and see if they are interested. I don't suppose you can tell me a ballpark figure per costume right now?" She asks as she carefully folds the robe up and puts it back in the box.

"Sorry, I have no clue how much it costs him per batch of costumes. I have a PHO account, so I can message you later with the estimate once I ask him about it. Here, I'll write it down for you."

I port over and snag a bit of paper from the front desk and scribble out my new username. As I hand the paper over, Amy tears off an unused part, and writes her own down for me. She puts her half on top of the costumes inside the box, and hands me mine. I quickly tuck it into my ankle wallet to keep it safe.

"Anyways, having people want to buy costumes will really help him buy more supplies and stuff to Tinker with, so he should jump at the opportunity. Might be grumpy when I tell him that New Wave gets a major discount because you are a friend, but if you guys are willing to spread the word that heroes can get costumes cheap, then I'm sure he'll be less grumpy with me."

She nods in approval, then gestures to the nearby doors. "That sounds fine. If you do good work, and only sell to heroes, I can see no reason not to spread the word to other independents. So, as much as I'd love to keep chatting, I do have to go home for dinner soon. Normally I call Vicky for a pickup, so if you want to avoid being forced into going on a double date, you had best leave before she gets here."

"Yeah, I think I'll avoid that. I have to go home myself anyways. We should totally meet up again later, preferably not in a hospital so we can sit down and chat. Want to get a burger or something on the weekend?"

She seems to hesitate for a bit, before making a decision and shrugging her shoulders. "Sure, why not. I don't know when I'm free, so we can arrange this later through messages on PHO."

"Great!" I respond gratefully. Phew, it looks like I didn't scare her off. It's sad that the first female my age to not treat me like dirt in what seems like forever, also seems to be just as wary of making new friends as I am. Do all capes get so jaded about new connections?

I flash back to my new online stalker and shudder. Never-mind, I guess it makes sense to be so cautious. I only probably get a pass because I'm a cape too. God, it's hard to believe that I'm just as much of a celebrity as any of them now. Well, ok, maybe not quite on par as the major heroes, but still notable at least. C-list for sure.

"Alright, I'll message you tomorrow. See ya around!" I give her a half wave of my hand.

"See ya, messenger-boy!"

I pop off home, delivery successful. Now I just have to ride out the last few days of being grounded, finish that damn movie, and get my finalized costume. Then I can stop the overgrown bullies in the gangs, and maybe fix this city.

* * *

AN: Haven't edited this chapter much, sorry. But I figured you'd want something rather than nothing. I'll fix stuff up in the next few days probably. :P

Enjoy my slightly blah chapter. I don't really like this one too much, I dunno why. Maybe too much talking about non related stuff? Ugh, not happy with this one, but I couldn't find a better way to do it, and I want to move on to the fight scene that's next. What do you guys think? Review and tell me!

Edit: Changed the order of stuff based on suggestions, and added in the dates the PHO conversations were started, since someone apparently didn't realize that the Kid Win conversation was only there because it was the old one from the very beginning. (I have the PHO generator set to display the last 15 private messages, and there haven't been enough new ones to bump off the old stuff yet at the time she is looking at the website.)


	18. Letter Opener 2-6

With my pulse pounding hard, I race across a dark rooftop. Chasing Uber through a concrete jungle littered with graffiti. The chill air burns my lungs as I take in huge gulps of air, but since it blunts the heat generated by my body, I keep on going. Running as fast as I can, heedless of safety or sanity.

He turns his head slightly to check that I'm still following, streetlights glinting off the metal claws on the head of his Ryu costume. In answer I nod, steeling myself and running onward with two selves, ignoring the snitch and focusing on looking as angry as I can at him. My swords are awkwardly held behind me in a dramatic pose that they have assured me makes me look both faster and cooler.

There's no moon tonight, but the path is familiar, the rooftops carefully chosen for tonight's work. Despite this, one self almost stumbles over an unseen protrusion. I recover quickly, turning it into what I hope looks like a graceful leap.

Uber leaps off the rooftop edge, and lands with a smooth roll on the one below. It's about refresh time anyways, so I slow down a bit, then send my two new selves down to continue the chase, dissolving the old. I can see now why learning sprinting is _way_ more useful for me than jogging, the constant start and stop of the chase is extremely tiring. Not to mention the strain of trying to make it all look continuous, sleek and smooth.

Eventually Uber runs out of rooftops to jump down onto, and I catch up with an easy teleport, panting like mad and bent over from the futile gasping. The bastard is barely winded, while I'm tasting copper and barely able to stand up. I _need_ to get in better shape.

"Ok there Ash?" He asks concerned.

"Fine!" I manage to wheeze after a few seconds. This is way more work than yesterday's filming, yesterday was positively serene in comparison to today's torture. Why did I ever agree to this again?

"We should be almost done this chase bit. You're doing great keeping up with me. Just take it easy, get your breath back. We have plenty of time. If it gets too much, tell me, we can film the rest tomorrow."

"No. No. It's ok for now. Just... Gimme a sec." I gasp out. I take the time to lower the mouth part of my ninja mask and get rid of the bad taste in my mouth by spitting. Ugh. I'll never know why blood tastes so coppery. Isn't it supposed to be full of iron?

"Yo guys, looked good from here." There is Leet on the little communicator in my ear. The lazy ass isn't even with us today, he's sitting in the lab filming remotely. Kinda hate him right now. Stupid idiot isn't getting even a tiny bit sweaty.

"I was totally able to get the rhythm of your teleporting, so I won't have to do too much editing later cus I turned the camera back and forth between the two of you to stretch out the take. A few times I accidentally got your dissolve on camera, but oh well, good nuff."

"Good. So now we have the long continuous scene done twice over for the different anglesm and the brief parkour stuff is out of the way from earlier. Do you think we need a third shot of this chase? If not, I think all that's left is the fighting scene on perilous architecture, right?"

"Yup, I got the address of the most Asian looking rooftop in the area, so we can head over to it once poor Ash is better. It is _way_ deeper in ABB territory than you guys currently are, so make sure to keep together for safety. If I catch sight of any trouble on the snitch I'll let ya know, but keep an eye out anyways. If we run into Lung or Kumo Yokai, we abort Fuckin immediately."

"Yeah, yeah, we know. Don't be a mother hen."

"Hey, I don't want to have to star in my own films, we all know that would be a disaster of epic proportions. Anyways, hopefully it takes time for the gangbangers to notice us, and report back to their bosses. Lungs easy nuff to dodge, but that damn bug freak can be sneaky. Luckily yesterday was pretty cold, so hopefully he's staying indoors tonight to keep his critters warm."

I finally seem to have most of my breath back, so I decide to let them know. "Hey, I'm mostly better now. Lets head out to the new roof. It's pretty late already, so if we wait too long my dad might get annoyed. Don't want him re-grounding me."

"Right, now follow the bouncing yellow ball kids!" He actually somehow manages to make the snitch look like it's bouncing a bit, as it arcs over to a nearby fire escape, leading Uber down to the alley. I wait till they are almost out of view before I port over, I still need to recover and might as well be a bit lazy. I have lots of teleportation left for the big fight scene, so I can waste a bit on travel.

We get looks from people hurrying by, but most leave us alone after only a glance. I'm walking beside Uber now, partly because we might look more intimidating as a pair, partly because I feel safer standing by him as opposed to teleporting around alone. (As odd as that might sound.) I can't see the snitch, but I assume it's hiding above us in the darkness, keeping an eye out for trouble.

I wonder if any of them know these are video game costumes? How popular is this ninja game anyways? Although I doubt the drunk wino we are currently passing plays video games, he looks like he must sleep outside often, judging by the obvious frostbite damage and missing bits. Poor guy, I feel a bit bad for him but there's nothing I can do right now.

An Asian kid with a mean looking dog walks by, but decides not to mess with us after seeing our swords. Neither costume has a sheath, so we have to carry them openly in our hands. That aspect of our costumes has a good intimidation factor at least, even if it means we'll have to hide them fast if a cop car ever gets close. But given the neighborhood, the chances of that happening is slim. The cops stay out of here for good reason.

We pass by a group of rough looking guys smoking out behind a decrepit warehouse, they eye us and laugh a bit, but make no move to come after us. Man, this area is just depressing and grim. Even with my power, I don't think I'd want to come out here alone.

I notice that I've unconsciously started walking closer to Uber and force myself to calm down. Not everyone is sinister looking, not everyone is out to get us. It's just a not nice area, that's all. That woman with the grim smile and skimpy clothes, she's just an unfortunate dresser maybe, she's not mocking us. Probably not working as a prostitute for the ABB and calling them as we turn the corner.

I hope.

Directions whispered in our ears lead us around a corner, and up ahead I can see our destination. It's some kind of large building, possibly a hotel, with a curved roof in what I can only assume is a Japanese style. Lots of bright red tiles, layers and upturned corners and edges. Leet leads us to an alley way nearby, connected to a tall apartment building.

I teleport up to the fire escape and wrestle the rusted ladder down for Uber to use, then up we go. Once at the top of the building, I realize that there might be a problem. This apartment might be tall enough to let someone jump down to the lowest level of the nearby curved rooftop, but the gap is way to far for even Uber to jump.

"Uh, guys, how is Uber supposed to make that jump?"

"Oh, that's easy. He can do a double jump!"

"You do realize this is reality, not a game right?"

"Heh, Leet means that we use the snitch to help me get some extra air. It's pretty strong lift wise, just awkward as hell to grab onto since it's not that big."

"Oh, right, well then I'll leave you guys to that. I think I'll take the easy way over." And I pop on over, leaving them to their dangerous aerial maneuver attempts.

"Cheater!" Uber yells out at me good-naturedly.

He ends up grabbing the snitch with both arms, kinda trapping it under himself. Then he runs forward and leaps off the building, hunched over the snitch all the while. His jump arc is extended, and it seems like the snitch is actually lifting him up enough to stop his fall, as well as helping him move forward. Once he lands on the edge of the curved roof with me, he lets go.

"Ugh, such a literal pain in the chest. It's gonna be nice when we manage to cannibalize the two stronger grav repulsers. The snitch's is just too weak to be of much use."

"Yeah, it makes me wish I had put in a stronger one when I built it. Hindsight right? It's a bitch."

"So Uber, we go up, or fight here?"

"Hmm, I think up more, that way we can jump down from level to level, add some cool dimensions to the fight."

"Yeah, it's pretty sweet architecture. Shame the area around it ended up becoming such a dump. The ABB took a shit all over this part of town."

A combination of me boosting him, snitch wrangling, and parkour, eventually sees Uber at the top of the building and standing perfectly balanced on the peak. I easily join him, more thankful than ever at my ability to teleport.

"Arm check?"

"Applying more fake blood, the previous stuff is all rubbed off or dried out."

"Lighting check?"

"Kinda dark up here, since it's so high up. Where do you want the glow sicks dropped?"

"Eh, just scatter em around, the snitch doesn't really need much external light so I'm not picky, it's more a precaution than anything. Streetlights in this area are better than I had thought they would be so the ambient is almost good enough."

"Got it."

I port around the rooftop for a bit, snapping, shaking, then depositing the whitish-blue sticks of light in the darkest corners. Don't want to have to come out here again tomorrow night for another shot if this one turns out poorly. Maybe we should have waited for a full moon night?

Taking position on the rooftop, I strike a pose. "Ready!" I call out eagerly.

"Set!" He answers just as joyously.

The snitch whirls around until it seems to find the perfect angle and stops dead in the air, perfectly steady. "Action!"

I use the anticipation of the fight, the thrill, and I ride the wave to its fullest height. Five of me surround Uber, holding position for a long second to establish the scene, but then I can hold myself back no longer. We all burst into motion, charging him with raised blades eager for fake blood.

I dart in, allowing him to parry my blade as another self tries to drive him from the roof peak by swiping at his leg. I take a slicing hit to my arm and pull back, making it look as if I am retreating. I only dissolve once I'm out of camera view, and make a new me in the same place while I follow Uber down the side of the curved roof.

He slides down the frost slicked side, ending in a neat three point landing and decapitating one self at the same time. I managed to score a hit on his torso before dying, a shallow cut that wells up with red goop and looks nasty. He fakes an intake of sharp breath, briefly touching his chest as if in pain, then spins around in a majestic whirl, deflecting my blades as I try to attack him with three selves at once.

I lunge forwards and lock blades with him, trying to keep him occupied and unable to fight off another self, however he uses me as a handhold, kicking out at the self lunging at his back. My nose is broken, blood streaming down my face, but I get in a short gash on his leg before I retreat to refresh that self.

The self locking blades tries to headbutt him, but he expertly tucks his chin in, and I smash my forehead on the top of his head, ouch. Stunned, I offer little resistance as he disarms me and uses my own blade to impale me, kicking me off the side of the roof. I wait till I have plummeted off a few feet before dissolving, and try again with two more selves.

We approach side by side, one blade held high, the other blade is low. Covering all possible areas of attack, I hope. Uber decides to use the terrain to his advantage, backing away and forcing us to advance on him. He is standing on the edge of one roof corner now, tempting me to try and knock him off, I decide to oblige him. The narrowing of the roof means that only one of me can approach at a time, destroying my advantage.

I rush towards him, thinking to sacrifice myself trying to knock him off the roof. I know there is another decorative roof layer below so he won't fall far even if I do succeed. He surprises me by dropping almost flat as I'm about to collide with him, kicking out and lifting me up and over him in a graceful arc. I am sent flying, way out beyond the rooftops and almost hit the ground before I dissolve. It's pretty cool admittedly, so I hope Leet got that on camera.

I'm pursuing Uber as he swings down to another layer below, he's killed enough 'enemy ninja' that I only send two selves at him now. I decide to cheat a bit, and as he is fleeing, another self steps out from around the corner right in front of him. He skids to a stop, almost slipping, and pauses to think. I have him cornered now, trapped between two selves and no more layers to jump down to. It's the end of the line, and I move in to finish him off.

A furious exchange of sword fighting follows, metal clanging on metal. He is absolutely amazing, and easily manages to find ways to dodge or deflect my attacks, despite me flanking him and the tricky rooftop angles. I can see a few times when he chooses not to use an opening to kill me, so I assume he is making it look good and building up to a climactic finish.

My two selves time is almost up so I briefly pull them back and switch them out for two new fresh ones, Uber takes the moment to swipe some sweat off his brow and adjust his footing. Then I lunge in again, one high and one low. Uber manages to grab a nearby window ledge, and swings himself up and over to the above rooftop layer with a herculean heave, leaving both of my fighting selves having impaled each other in a lovely double suicide. I almost had missed myself, but once I realized what he was going for, I dodged _into_ the errant blade to make sure it hit me.

I send both selves off the side, plummeting to their dissolving dooms. The brief battle is over.

"Cut!" Calls out Leet, entirely unnecessarily.

Man, what a workout for my power! That fight was just as fun as they always are.

I go on over to Uber and sit down beside him, looking out at the city and cooling down a bit. "That was pretty awesome, it went well."

"Yup, we might not even need to do a second take, it was very smooth."

"Lemme just check over the footage for a sec guys, I was too busy getting shots to think about editing back there. Maybe you should go back up to the top of the roof, just in case we need a second take."

"Kay." I shrug to Uber. He's the poor non Mover who has to go back up the hard way, but I'm reluctant too, if for a different reason. I _really_ hope we don't have to do a second fight. The first fight is always the best because it's real, it's free-form, it happens naturally. But trying to recreate it? To do the same fighting moves, and make the same mistakes a second time? Not nearly as fun. More like a chore or homework.

I'm pretty sure Uber feels the same way, since he's just as prone to protesting if we have to redo a shot. I suppose it provides us incentive to do it right the first time, to try and make sure everything is as dramatic as possible. I wouldn't have been nearly as willing to stab myself deliberately at the end there if it weren't for the fact that I knew it would look cool and that I might not have to do it again if it's good enough.

"So... Assuming things go well with the New Wave costume stuff, we'll use the money to buy a lawyer though this Number Man, get a big contract, move the fabber out of the lab, and go legit. Have you guys come up with names and costume ideas yet?"

"Leet's having a hard time of it, but I am pretty much done my design. I think he's too focused on this short movie to be honest, he always was a little single minded. I have some ideas for myself, as well as some possible team tactics to use to take out our opposition."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you are clearly mobile and will one day far surpass me in the damage department, you're clearly the main DPS of the group. Since Leet's always been support, I figure one option for us is that I take on the tank role. We can hopefully find some combo of Leet's tech that will let me keep the enemy focused on me, but safe from harm, so you can sneak in from the sides for the takedown."

"DPS?"

"Err, damage per second, gaming term, sorry. It basically means the heavy hitter. Anyways, option two is you tank instead, since your power makes you fairly immune to damage, and I do ranged DPS to help you. Once we get the flight packs made up, I'll be able to go up out of harms way of most mooks, so it might be a good option."

"Eh, there's still guns to deal with, and other capes out there with flight or Blaster powers. I know the costumes will make guns less of an issue, but still a chance to get hit in the few vulnerable spots. You said it would leave a bruise behind, so you're still getting hurt with every bullet you take. I think we should focus on being flexible and adjust tactics as needed. You'll need heavy protection no matter what we do, you're the one that can't afford to die a few hundred times."

"True, true. Actually we have a few sweet things I think we can combine into a nice armor set for me to go on top of the DragonHide. Not enough good stuff left for multiple costumes though, and I don't like the idea of leaving Leet unprotected. But if we ever do manage to find some of the stuff the Protectorate stole from us, there is a nice shield Leet made that can reflect most generic light based Blaster powers. This city is crawling with capes who shoot out beams of light, and even if we aren't going up against New Wave, it would be a nice surprise to hit Purity with her own attack."

"So you're going for a sort of medieval look then, with armor and a shield?"

"Yup, it should go well with your final costume. Unless you have objections, I'm thinking team colors will be red and white?"

"Sure, it's classic good guy colors. What's your new name going to be?"

"I checked, and Herald isn't taken right now. I think I'll go with that, so that it kinda matches yours. They were medieval messengers, diplomats, and knights. The name has been used three times already, but the last one to use it died last year, so it's free for the taking."

"I guess we have a theme then, from the sounds of it. It's not half bad, given the fact that my name was kinda random luck and circumstance forcing my hand."

"Yeah, it's not fucking bad at all, gonna make choosing my name a bitch though. Oh and I finished checking the shots twice over and good news kiddies, no need to do a second shot. It looks fantastic enough that I can prob use most of it. I am a _whiz_ with a camera, if I do say so myself." Leet boasts smugly.

Good, this means we only have the final boss fight to film now. "Nice, I'll go grab the Regent Mask costume and the fancy sword from where we stashed em, maybe grab some water bottles too, I'm thirsty. Ya want one?"

"Yeah, I could totally go for water right now."

"So Leet, what's the plan for this part?" I ask him impatiently as I leapfrog across rooftops to the nearby stash of film stuff. We had made sure to hide most of it well away from here, in case we were forced to retreat because of the ABB. Grabbing the bag of costumes and water, I send it all back through the self standing on the roof with Uber.

"Ok, so since Ryu gets forced down the rooftops by the fight, there should be something to draw him back up to the top. I'm thinking Uber goes back down to the spot he ended at, and we start there. We film him looking up as if he sees or hears something, then using acrobatics to pull himself up the ledges. He reaches the peak, only to find himself face to face with the Regent of the Mask, his final foe!"

"I'm thinking we stand there for a bit and gesture at each other so we can add in some dialogue later if we want to?" Uber suggests after drinking a quarter of a water bottle in one long gulp.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Normally I'd have you guys circling while you talk, but the roof peak is a bit narrow and linear, so let's just have you guys be stationary. The masks hide all mouth movements, so I can pretty much use any shot I want for any dialogue. Oh, I want you to use some of your throwing daggers for this fight Uber. We can send Ash down to get them back and repeat it a few times. I figure, Ryu wears a ton of knives strapped to his legs, he has to use them sometime. We can start off the fight with him grabbing and throwing a handful of the daggers, Mask dodges, and then fight is on."

"I guess this means that we repeat this opening scene until I've learned to dodge daggers?" I ask sarcastically.

"Yup, it's good for you Ash, builds character. Wax on, wax off sort of thing." Mark sounds like he is holding back laughter as he climbs down to a lower level for the next part of filming. I'm surprised he's not annoyed at having been told to climb all the way up, then told to go back down again because Leet changed his mind. I suppose he must be used to it by now.

"Gee, thanks. Such love and concern for my well being."

"Oh please, it's just a few daggers to the face, don't be a big baby." He teases me and I can't help but grin under my mask. This conversation would sound so odd to anyone listening in. When did my life get so surreal? Oh well, at least it's gotten fun at the same time.

"When should I use the flame throwing gadget that's in here?" I ask Leet, fiddling with the gauntlet he showed me how to use yesterday. It's supposed to launch fire when the hand is held a certain way, but maybe every one in ten shots ends up going back along the hand and tries to set your arm on fire.

"Hmm, good question. Mask has some magic in the game and we want to show that off, but once the fighting starts it would be hard for you to launch that without getting your head taken off. I'm thinking that the start might work. As you dodge the daggers, you fling a fireball at him, so he has to dodge that. Then you focus on sword fighting the rest of the fight, till your dramatic death."

"Ok, sounds good. I suppose I'll get the new costume on then. We have another twenty minutes before the 'movie' I told my dad we were going to see is finished, so that's the deadline. I imagine that once we start flinging fire around, we won't have long to film anyways. No way the ABB will miss that."

"Don't worry Ash, we both have practically memorized the movie plot synopsis, and I can totally outrun any of the ABB even on my worst day. Nothing could possibly go w-"

He stops talking and looks down at the street. "What's that?"

Huh?

I follow his gaze and see three large monstrous forms racing towards this building. Streetlights outline lumpy creatures that are running on all fours, each with what looks like figures riding them? Odd.

Instinctively I crouch down, then think better of it and teleport to where Uber is hiding in a corner. I quickly grab the closest three glow sticks with a few selves and hide them away on the nearby apartment buildings roof. With our area dark, hopefully it's too dark for the people down below to spot us, assuming they don't have enhanced senses.

"Whats going on?" I whisper to the guys.

"I can't be sure yet, but something cape related for sure. Those monsters can't be anything normal. It's hard to tell from so high up, hey Leet, go take a look with the snitch."

"Right, I'm on it."

A few tense seconds pass with the forms moving right up to the building we are on, then stopping outside. Are they here for us? Are they new ABB capes? This could be bad if they know we are here. It had seemed like no-one below had noticed our shenanigans, but maybe they were merely waiting for backup?

"Shit, I recognize one of em, it's Grue. He's got a nicer costume, fancy skull helmet now, but the darkness leaking out of his costume gives it away."

"Grue?" As I ask, the group below has finished rearranging themselves. One creature is now riderless and proceeds to throw itself at the front door, knocking it down with a loud boom, and making the whole building shudder. They all go inside, and I can hear shouts of alarm, screams, and loud snarling noises. What the hell is going on in there? Are they attacking people?

Uber gives me a quick rundown, "Minor villain, mercenary, we sometimes ran into him, but he mostly stuck to small time stuff like robbing a store, or being temporary muscle for hire. We didn't compete with each other for jobs much, just sort of knew he was in the biz of hire-able villainy. Creates darkness around him from what I've seen. Great for blocking out cameras and disabling tons of people without having to fight them."

"It looks like he's got lots of other fucking capes with him, I think the rumors of him joining a team are true. There's some girl in purple, a guy with a poofy white shirt and scepter, and a girl with a crappy dog mask. Oh shit, that chick must be Hellhound. I'm searching them up right now guys. Ok, Undersiders is what they are called. It's a new team, mostly small robberies, smash and grab stuff. A bit of corporate theft too. Dog girl can take normal dogs and turn them into the monstrosities you see below. Nothing on purple chick or poofy shirt guy."

"Looks like they're robbing the place below us, it must have something valuable in it. Just our luck it happened today while we were here. We should pack up and head out before they notice us, or the ABB notice them."

An idea strikes me, and I quickly send off selves to make a special trip. "No, filming is obviously interrupted for now, but now we have a golden opportunity for heroism. I figure it's not every day that you stumble into a robbery in progress, we have a golden opportunity to stop them and catch at least a few."

Uber turns and hisses at me, "Are you crazy? They totally outnumber us!"

"Nope, remember I outnumber them all on my own! Ok, here's the plan, you get into position above the doorway. If they come back out again using the easy path they already made, you can jump down and tackle one off of the dog monsters. With luck, they don't even notice until they are long gone, and we picked off a member of their team to take to jail."

"And if they don't keep running?"

"Then I fight while you take the prisoner away from the area. I'm not crazy, I'm not aiming to take them _all_ down. We only have to grab one and hold the rest off for long enough. At some point, they have to leave or risk facing Lung or Kumo Yokai. Leet, you are surveillance, keep an eye out for ABB and warn us if any of the Undersiders try to sneak around in the confusion. If things look desperate, send the snitch in to hit someone on the head, or distract a dog. Dog's like balls, and you said the snitch is indestructible, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"You are the worst Ash, seriously the worst. Ok, snitch suicide if needed, got it."

"Right, if they want to make a fight of it, I'll try to grab the only obvious weapon they have, that scepter, and pass it on to you Uber. Hopefully we can figure out what it does, if it's not just something decorative for hitting people. We also have the swords if things go bad, but best to avoid using something so lethal if we can help it. I'd only use a sword on the dogs. It might be sad, but we won't get murder charges for killing one by accident."

"Right, it's a good plan. Might even work. You forgot the most important part however, you should call the PRT first so that we have backup incoming. Not to mention that it would be nice to not have to carry a person more than a few city blocks, they should be able to come pick up any capes we do get."

"Oh, oops, that makes sense. Ok I'll call them, you put on the robes."

"Robes?"

"From the Mask costume. Your arms are totally exposed like that, and the Mask costume is cut resistant. This way if a dog grabs you by the arms, you won't immediately be shredded meat. Hurry up though, we don't know how long it takes to rob a place. They might be out any second!"

I yoink out my little burner phone and dial the PRT number. "Hello, parahuman response team emergency line. What is the nature of your call?"

Time to sound like a professional. "Messenger here. Cape robbery taking place at... Fifth street and Ginger road. I and a teammate are moving to intercept and detain as many as possible, assistance would be appreciated."

"Uh, hold one one second please, I'm dispatching a notice to a waiting team. Who did you say you were?" She asks in confusion.

"Messenger."

"You and your companion, are you capes?"

"Correct."

"Alright, a team is on the way. Can you stay on the line and update us about what is going on?"

"Briefly. We suspect the capes are the Undersiders, a team specializing in thievery. No sign of Lung of Kumo Yokai in the area. Apologies but I must go." I hang up on her as I notice that the sounds below are changing, and what looks like clouds of darkness is seeping out of the open doorway below. I wait tense for a moment, but nothing else changes.

Looking around, I spot Uber down below, already wearing the robes and moving to be above the doorway. Good, he's getting into position. My other selves finally reach their destination and I bring back my hero costume. Don't want to make the connection between Uber and Leet's new movie and the Messenger too obvious. (Not to mention my proper costume is much more durable than the temporary movie one.)

I cascade out a set of selves and use them to quickly strip off the outer part of my costume. Another cascade and my Messenger outfit is halfway on. Not bad for speedy costume changing, certainly comes in handy at times like this. One last cascade, and I'm suited up and properly protected. Uber is now in position, so I decide to experiment a bit and send down a self to beside the doorway.

This might backfire, but it also could be useful information to have. First I quickly try touching the darkness, and my hand goes right through it. Ok, so despite the appearance, it's not thick. More like fog or smoke. It's hard to hear much of anything inside the building now, if it wasn't for the darkness, I'd think they'd already left. Curious, I briefly dunk my head in some that's spilling from the doorway. My senses black out, I get nothing, no sight at all, and only a few faint, distorted sounds.

Yup, no teleporting around in that stuff, and it's blocking our ability to hear what's happening. This could prove tricky if he can make this dark stuff appear quickly. I'll have to try and keep at least one self outside it at all times. Hmm, they might try to go out through the back, I better get some selves over there to cover the rear.

I decide to cover the back with a full three selves, leaving only one by the front. Hopefully Uber didn't climb down there for no reason, but if so, then I might still be able to get one of them myself, buying him time to show up.

Wait, I should be thinking of him as Herald right now, shouldn't I? We're doing hero stuff, not Uber and Leet stuff. Whoops. I think the problem is we have too many fake names right now, our secret identities have secret identities.

A surge of darkness from the doorway alerts me that something is finally happening and I focus. A moment later a monstrous dog form bursts free, leaping away from the building. Herald was already in motion before the surge even was visible, and I wonder how on earth he knew they were about to leave. His timing is sound and he hits the person riding the dog squarely, tearing them off and to the ground. That _had_ to have been his power, it was way too perfect.

However it also might have been a bit premature, as the other two dogs follow the first, only to stop and come up short at the sight of the tussle on the street. (Herald is winning of course.) Poofy is on the smallest dog monster, while purple girl and Grue share the biggest. I'd better go down and interfere. Purple girl lets out a smug remark, "Told you. There were even more waiting on the other side."

Grue is calling out, "Bitch!" at the same time that she's being smug, and sending out waves of darkness at the two to presumably interfere, but I'm pleased to see that it will take a few seconds to cover the distance. I doubt it will do much to help since Hellhound is already grappled and can barely breathe from having the wind knocked out of her. For some reason, the dogs are not attacking yet, and I'm incredibly grateful for it.

I'm also busy getting tasered by poofy shirt, as his scepter turns out to have hidden some kind of electrical weapon in it. But the good news is that I tagged it before he hit me in the arm, and he's about to lose his weapon. Purple turns in alarm to poofy and shouts too late, "Don't let him touch your weapon!" Just as she finishes, I lunge in with a newly equipped self and hit Hellhound with a steady jolt, while sending another two selves at purple and Grue.

Darkness rises up to immediately obscure the two on the dog, while the darkness finally reaches the self over by Herald and Hellhound. Too little, too late, I'm already safely on a nearby roof, looking for more opportunities, while keeping Hellhound locked down and out.

One of my blind swings manages to connect with something. I trigger the taser and can feel something shudder and spasm, knocking me over. Must have been the dog. The other self gets disarmed of the taser. Crap, one of them must be able to see through the darkness, likely Grue. Makes sense that he'd be immune to his own power. He tries to taser me, but I'm already dissolving the two beside him, melting the re-stolen taser along with them.

I go in from the side to help guide Herald out of the darkness with his new prize. Poofy is not covered in darkness yet since his mount is backing away nervously from the fight, so I try to capture him as well. I appear right on the back of the dog with him and am about to taser him when my arm spasms and twitches wildly. I accidentally throw the taser away, and I am too surprised to react as he shouts and punches me off the dog. Darkness quickly makes it's way over to him as well, Grue no doubt noticed my attempt on his teammate. The twitching thing must be poofy's power, I had been wondering if he even had one.

At the same time, I decide on aerial attacks. I can't teleport into the area, but above it is fair game. I might not know exactly where in the darkness they are, but I can't just stand around and let Grue act freely, or else they might get Hellhound back. Hopefully the darkness stops his allies as much as it stops us, but I'm not going to count on it.

Selves snap into place above the street, air filling my wing-capes and slowing my fall. The first one lands, and runs forwards recklessly and blind, until I run face first into a wall. My second one manages to find something, and I send in the third in the approximate area. My second is being disarmed and beaten up bad, but at least the distraction is working. Third manages to swing the scepter at something, but it gets redirected and I end up hitting myself. Dissolving the twitching second self, the third is kicked in the face and sent reeling. I hear a few distorted whistles come from the area before I melt away.

Herald has managed to drag Hellhound away and out of the darkness, he can move faster than it can boil forth even while carrying someone. I send a new self down and tell him, "Run, take this taser and use it if they get close, or if Hellhound starts to move again. I'll see if I can't get another one captured, or at least keep distracting them."

Four selves are created to stand between Herald and the cloud of darkness, each holding out the gauntlet covered hand. I send my last self up to a rooftop, just in case they have a trick up their sleeve. Purple girl still hasn't revealed her power, and it could be a doozy for all I know. Now that Herald is free and clear, I can hit them hard. The fire won't kill them, but it will hurt like a bitch and I can put them out once I taser them into unconsciousness. They can recover from burns in custody.

Three fireballs arc forward into the darkness, with no indication if I hit anything at all, or missed entirely. One self bursts into flame from a backfire and I hurriedly dissolve that self because fire hurts, a _lot_. I send in a replacement and switch the location of the safe self. As I'm sending in another volley of randomly aimed fireballs, the three dogs leap from the darkness away from us, running fast.

Darnit, none of them seem to be on fire, I must have missed completely. I teleport in behind them, glad that they are moving fast enough that the darkness can't gather around Grue. Two new selves send out a fireball, but they can easily outrun them. I change my strategy and try appearing in front of them and shoot the fire from there. One fireball flies out and is dodged by a dog as is jinks to the left, the other fireball hits myself as it backfires and I'm on fire as the second dog jumps over me.

"Shit!" Yells purple girl. "I've got the dogs, hold on tight guys! No more darkness Grue, I need to see." I chase them down the street for a few blocks, but the fire seems to not be working, the dogs are too nimble. I try more selves, going up to four and aiming at each dog with a passenger twice, but the poofy shirt guy starts to gesture and throw off my aim. Every time I try another volley, one or two selves twitch and have a muscle spasm. That combined with the occasional misfire, means that I can't quite land any solid hits.

Purple girl lets out a few whistles at an intersection, and the dogs all turn to the right, sideswiping a few parked cars and almost knocking one over. Wow, that's some heavy muscle on the dogs. I'd hate to be bitten by one.

I could try to go in physically, but I doubt it will help much. The dogs are powerful enough to just go through me, and if I try to appear on top of them, they can fight me off. Grue seems good at fighting and can probably take me in a grapple, while poofy guy will probably be able to make me twitch right off the dog.

I don't even know how they are managing to stay on the dogs in the first place, especially not at that speed. Sure there are spikes sticking up everywhere to hold onto, but I would have imagined the violent motions would have dislodged at least one person by now.

Besides, after a bit of thought I realize that I _don't_ want to try and just pull one off a dog, at these speeds it might seriously hurt or kill them. They might be thieves, but they look not much older than I am. I don't want to kill anyone.

Since I can't make a decision on what approach to take, I continue to harry them for a lack of anything better to do.

Our strange chase continues for a few more city blocks, as they run forwards towards me, dodge fireballs, and then I teleport back ahead of them. At least they are smart enough to keep going forward and not try to out maneuver a teleporter after that first attempt.

Although now that I think about it, how are they controlling the dogs without Hellhound? Is it the whistles? I would have thought they would be under her direct control, and it would break after she went down, but her power still seems to be affecting them despite her being unconscious. Food for thought later I suppose.

Another intersection comes up, and I'm getting rather tired now. I've been keeping a full four or five selves up for a while now, I can't keep this chase up for much longer. The Undersiders race on, making another right at the intersection. I hope they aren't trying to circle back around to get back to Herald and Hellhound, that might be a problem if so. But then I remember that the PRT is likely almost there by now, and so it might actually let us capture the rest of them.

As I have this thought, Purple girl shouts again as they yet again dodge another volley of fire, "Damnit, the PRT is on it's way here, we can't circle back to grab Bitch. We have to go, the teleporter is getting tired, they can't keep it up for much longer."

Huh, it looks like they _were_ trying to get back to their teammate. I wonder how she knew the PRT was coming? Super senses like hearing? As I ponder this, they take a left at the next intersection with yet more whistles seeming to direct the dogs, and they speed away after having jumped clear over some cars that had been at the intersection. I follow for a while on rooftops, no longer harrying them but trying to keep hidden, to see if they lead me right to their lair.

I would have thought they have no way of noticing me, not with me avoiding doing anything flashy, but they don't slow down in the slightest. Is it just me or are the dogs a bit smaller now than when the fight started? It's hard to tell with all the movement and chaos, but I suspect they might have shrunk a bit. I get distracted from the thought as poofy shirt calls out, "Where are we even going? My ass is sore!"

"Not going home yet, still being followed!"

"Fuck!"

She definitely has some kind of Thinker thing going on to have spotted me. My guess is hearing and vision, since she did mention needing to see at one point to Grue. Giving up, I collapse back to the Prime I had left behind to guard Herald and the prisoner. No point in wasting any more of my power tonight, they won't stop running till I'm out of teleports. We managed to get one of them, and if the dogs are shrinking then they can't use them to rob innocent people in the future.

At least, I _hope_ they can't do it without Hellhound. Who knows how her powers work?

Some men and women have been leaving the hotel building, mostly well dressed people and some Asians. We've moved one street over, hopefully far enough away that they don't notice us, since some of the guys running around now seem to have guns. I send a self up to a rooftop periodically to check that none of them are coming in our direction as we wait for the PRT.

Leet finally speaks up, "Ok, I have good news and bad news. Good news is the PRT van is almost there, bad is that I've spotted signs of unusual bug activity in the area. Kumo Yokai is probably here and gathering a swarm. I can't pinpoint where he is, but the best bet will be to head towards the PRT van, go down the street to the left, and keep going. Hopefully the fact that it's cold out encourages him to keep his bugs indoors for long enough to get you two out of here. We do _not_ want to tangle with a cape that's killed people by literally smothering them in bugs."

"Ugh, yeah, not how I want to go out. Ok, I got Hellhound and I'm heading out." Herald has her slung limply over one shoulder, and is jogging away easily. When she starts to kick and squirm, he gives her a brief shock from the stolen scepter. Eventually she stops trying to get away. Makes me glad I'm on a team, it would be hard to transport criminals around all by myself. Being a solo hero would not have worked well.

"I'm mostly out of teleports, I was harrying the Undersiders with fireballs for a while there, keeping them from making their way back to get their teammate. But if you think its worth it, I can try to look around for Kumo, see where he is?"

"Nah, not worth it, save your energy for in case he attacks. At least now I know why you looked so distracted for the last few minutes. Did you really chase them away with fireballs? How far did you follow them?"

"Wait. You could tell I was distracted?"

"Yeah, you have slightly different body language when you have tons of afterimages out. Hard to explain exactly, but it's only noticeable when you are doing something major with a ton of them."

"That's interesting. Anyways, yeah I chased them for a few blocks, then they went right. They go maybe ten or fifteen more blocks before another right turn. I'm starting to think they are circling around for another go, but then purple girl tells then that the PRT is coming, and they have to book it. So they head left and finally away from here. On a whim I tried to follow them more stealthily with no fireballs to see if they'd lead me right to their lair, but no go. Purple chick somehow knew I was following and wasn't leading me the right way."

"Hmm, sucks. Would have been a good debut, to catch a whole gang of capes that outnumber us two to one. And no, you don't count as more than one cape ya pyromaniac." He retorts fondly. "I didn't get to follow much of the fight, was busy with this chick and then in darkness, but we'll have to watch the video later, assuming Leet managed to catch it on tape. Might be good for analyzing how we fought, working out what we could have done better."

"That's a pretty good idea. Oh, hey, I think I see the van up ahead, I'll go check real quick... Yup, it says PRT on the side, ok, good."

I go out into the street once the van is closer, and wave at them until they stop short a hundred yards away from us. The van door slides open and a few troops come spilling out, scanning the area. Herald walks up to them and stops as soon at they start to get nervous and point weapons at him.

"Greetings!" Herald booms out in a bright, clear tones. It is quite unlike the Uber voice that sounds overly dramatic and clipped like a sports announcer, or the smooth deep lazy bass of Mark. Amazing how he can do that, he sounds like a completely different person.

"We caught this thief, but alas the rest of her merry band got away. Normally I'd love to linger and chat, but there are signs of Kumo Yokai in the area. Perhaps we should take this discussion to a safer area?"

One of the PRT guys steps forward slightly and lowers the nozzle of his foam sprayer. "Which one of you is the Messenger? Report said that he called it in?"

I teleport to stand beside Herald and nod. "I am."

"Right, rumors of Kumo Yokai or not, we can't skip procedure unless we are actually under attack. But we'll call in about him and see if the Protectorate will send out a cape."

He nods to another PRT agent. "Johnson, call it in."

"Yes sir." She answers and goes back to the van. Surprises me a bit that she's a girl, but I suppose the PRT uniforms are so bulky, it's hard to tell what gender anyone is under it all.

"So, would you two be willing to come back with us and make a report? It would help the chances of keeping this one locked up, assuming the arrest ends up being valid."

Herald looks at me for confirmation and after a quick check of my watch, I nod at him. I'm amazed that this entire cape fight has only been around ten minutes long, it seemed like much longer. We have less than ten minutes before the 'movie' is suppose to be over and I'm supposed to call dad to pick me up. We can stretch that a bit, claim we played a few arcade games first. There's time, assuming it doesn't take too long.

Herald answers for the two of us, "We have some time, the night is young. We shall accompany you and fill out what forms are needed."

"Good, good. What can I call you?"

"I am Herald. Now, what should I do with Hellhound?"

" _That's_ who you caught? Geeze, there aren't any dogs around here are there?" A few of them look around warily at the mention of her name.

"Huh, I wonder whats up with that? Is Hellhound famous or something?" I murmur to myself.

Leet decides to answer, startling me. I had half forgotten he was listening in on the communicators. "I'm looking up more details, but from what I'm seeing online, Hellhound is pretty infamous in a minor way. It's actually kinda sad. She triggered publicly, hurting someone at the same time. Never really had a secret identity cus of it. Abusive childhood, went into the foster system, had a pet dog. She triggers because life is crap, and the dog becomes a monster and attacks her foster family. No deaths, but lots of maiming. Teen goes on the run, and turns to crime to survive. Tragic really."

Herald declares, "No dogs now, but if we wait too long, one might wander by. We've been using a stun gun to subdue her, but it might be safer for her to be cuffed."

"Right, hand her over then, we'll secure her. We'll go as soon as we get confirmation that we are good to go."

After he hands her over, Herald murmurs to me, "After hearing what Leet dug up on Hellhound, I feel kind of bad for her now. But I suspect she'll be better off in custody. A life on the run is not healthy for a kid."

I feel some pangs of regret too, for being so determined to capture a cape and prove my heroism. From the sounds of it, this girl might have had a life even crappier than mine. "Yeah, I mean, it's one thing to deliberately ruin peoples lives, but to have your life ruined by stuff outside your control? I'm pretty sure she doesn't have any kind of mental control over dogs, so the attacks might not have been her fault. Even normal dogs sometimes go after people, they don't have to be souped up monsters for that."

Leet chimes in, "Her only major crime was during a trigger event, there are laws for leniency for that kind of thing. Unless she's killed since then, I think she might get some kind of parole Ward deal. So don't feel too bad, I mean, she was a criminal, now she's going to pay for it, and probably end up taking a deal that gets her a new life and identity."

The PRT officer gets our attention as the rest of them start to get back into the van. "Alright, I've gotten confirmation so we are good to go. A Protectorate cape will meet us on our way back to headquarters, I'm told that today we get Armsmaster. Hop on in."

I shrug and tell Herald, "You go ahead, I'm gonna grab the stuff we left lying around and meet you there. I'll drop it off at the lab."

"Excellent I'd hate for our stuff to get stolen, especially the swords."

As he climbs into the van to join the others, he reassures them. "Fear not, Messenger will meet us there. No point in transporting a teleporter, it would only crowd us in more. There is little enough room as it is."

I grin as they drive away. "Hey Herald, you're such a ham. Like a big old Christmas ham. I'm surprised you haven't broken out into thees and thous, the way you're going."

"Hahaha, he _is_ being a big medieval ham isn't he? Such a dork. Oh, hey, don't let on that I'm here, ok? I've had a great idea, but I'll explain later, I want to finalize it first. If you do let them know you are using a communicator, pretend you're talking to Messenger."

"Ok, anyways, I'm dropping all this stuff off at the lab. It looks like we might have to wait a few days to finish filming the big boss fight, unless you know of any other rooftops that look just like that one. At least the hero career is getting a good start."

"Yup, looks like it. Hey, since I'm not a speedy teleporter, I'm going to start biking over to the movie theater soon, so if you have any more internet research requests, best ask now before I'm offline."

"Nah, not unless you can find out more info on the rest of the Undersiders? The poofy shirt guy could make my muscles twitch and spasm on command, but only one me at a time. Purple girl was some kind of Thinker, knew more than she should have, possibly super-senses. I don't know if that helps?"

"It's pretty vague, hmm, nope. Not getting anything. I might update their wiki page to include a pic of all the Undersiders from spite, just because they are so annoyingly hard to learn about. I'm using your names too. Poofy shirt and Purple girl, enjoy your new celeb photos!"

"Well, as long as you can do it securely, more info out there is good, right? But maybe don't use the names I gave them in my head, it's kinda rude. Just describe them vaguely instead."

"Eh, fine. Spoilsport."

"How are you doing in the VP van Herald?"

All we get is a non committal grunt. Heh, poor guy, he must not be very comfortable in there. Glad I get to take the scenic route, even if it does mean I'm on cleanup duty.

Eventually everything is all squared away, tucked safely in the secret lab. Dom is off to the theater to help me with my cover story, since my dad has graciously allowed me to be out late this weekend as a reward for 'good behavior' when I was grounded. If only he knew!

I pop on into the sky, arms out to fill my wing-cape and buy me more time to look around. I can't go up too much since it is so dark, but the skyscrapers downtown are visible from a ways off. I make my way to the downtown PRT headquarters quickly enough, and go inside. I'm not too sure where to go, so I head over to the reception desk where a sleepy looking brown haired woman is working.

"I'm here about dropping off a cape robbery suspect, the PRT van is incoming, but I came ahead."

"What is your name sir?"

"Messenger."

"Right, right, if you'll have a seat, I'll be able to tell you more shortly?"

Figures, she probably has to call someone to ask whats going on before she can do anything. I nod at her and sit down. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sweaty and tired. It was probably all that sprinting across rooftops. I hope I'm not smelly enough that dad gets suspicious later. Maybe I can tell him the movie was so exciting I sweated a bunch? I think that's a thing that happens with scary movies, maybe it also happens with action ones?

Nah, the movie wasn't that exciting according to the synopsis I read. Your usual basic fantasy book adaptation with crappy CGI monsters and overpaid actors. Instead of getting a good actor to play the mage, they just hired a Hollywood cape for the glam factor, and cheaper special effects. Then they ended up shoehorning in the capes power in every scene they could, despite the book mage having wildly different powers.

Probably a good thing I didn't actually go see the movie, I'd have been disappointed. I quite liked the book, but the reviews made me think they had butchered it. Oh, the lady is coming over, that's good. I don't have much time left before I have to go call dad.

"Armsmaster will be here shortly, and will escort you to your partner?" I nod at her and she goes back to her desk. Somehow the lady managed to make a statement sound like a question. If everything she says sounds like that, it might get annoying fast. Oh well, she's not my secretary.

Less than a minute later, I hear a motorcycle roar up. The sound fades as the engine shuts off with a purr, and I can see Armsmaster come in through the front doors. A tall man in metallic blue power armor, silver highlights shining in the lobby lights. His famous halberd is on his back in shrunken form, and all I can see of the actual man himself is a mouth surrounded by a neatly trimmed beard, the rest of his face is covered by a visor.

He cuts an imposing figure as he strides towards me. "Messenger? This way please." Then without waiting for a reply, the man turns and walks back out.

I don't know whether to be pleased he isn't wasting time, or annoyed that he isn't taking time to talk and explain. I settle for a wait and see approach for now. Teleporting after him, I catch up in time to see him get on a sleek blue motorcycle, obviously his own Tinker tech design. He barely even touches it, but it glides off smoothly, around the corner of the building.

Quickly teleporting to follow, I see him approach a sloping entrance to what is likely an underground parking garage. I go in after him, following him through the twists and turns. We get to a large metal door and it opens smoothly, admitting the both of us. Some kind of scanning takes place as lights briefly flash around, and I hear humming for a few seconds before it fades and the far metal door opens.

We go through a few checkpoints, each one taking no more than a few seconds. Then I see Herald up ahead, next to a row of PRT vans and some PRT officers. I port on over to him, glad that the maze running of finally over. "Good timing, we just got here!" He greets me cheerfully.

Armsmaster follows on my heels. "Secure Hellhound right away, I wish to talk to the independents before I communicate with the prisoner. While suspect is in custody, all canine units are to be barred from the premises, along with all guide dogs and pets. We will arrange for her transport to a more secure facility tomorrow. Employees who require a guide dog may take the day off tomorrow with full pay, but they must submit documentation as proof that their dog is medically necessary. This has been authorized by Director Piggot herself."

He then turns to us briefly, "Messenger. Herald. This way."

I share a look with Herald as we both follow Armsmaster into an elevator. He's a 'no time wasted' kind of guy isn't he?

* * *

AN: Ok, so maybe not as impressive as taking out Lung for her first proper cape fight, but at least the Messenger managed to capture someone.

My analysis? If Bitch had _not_ been the one to get taken out first thing, the fight might have gone quite differently and the Undersiders would have all gotten away. Tattletale or Regent would have been a bit humiliated and bruised, but they'd recover.

But if it had been Grue to get taken down first? I think all the Undersiders would be down and tasered into submission. Herald might be badly mauled by the time it happened, but five tasers at once would eventually win with no darkness. By the time Tattletale realized they have to retreat, (Fairly fast admittedly), four simultaneous taser attacks would have put everyone down but Regent. Then Regent would fall right after when two Messengers went after him at once. Lastly, the dogs would be subdued and poor Herald freed from their grip. (The last thing Bitch would have likely told them is probably hold, or hurt.)

Oh and before you guys ask why didn't Tattletale order the dogs to attack herself, from what I've seen in the original story, the directions are whistles, but the actual attack commands are words. Likely Bitch has trained the dogs to only respond to _her_ words, not others. You don't want a dog that attacks you or an ally because some enemy told it to.

(EDIT: There is apparently a Bentley command by Skitter later in the Cannon story, round section 10. But that was a newer dog, not as well trained as the original three dogs. And Skitter was clearly Pack Alpha by then. This fight between Undersiders and Messenger is taking place early on, when Bitch and Tattletale don't like each other. Bitch's dogs would know that Tats is not to be listened to.)

Tattletale could do whistle commands because in Grues darkness, it's much harder to tell if they come from the right person or not. The way I see it, their master is down and not responding, then darkness comes, and they hear the command to go fast? They go fast. By the time they realize that their master isn't there and not coming, they are probably shrunk down to little doggys again. (Oh and Tattletale obviously knew the right whistle commands cus of her BS power.)

Don't worry about the dogs well being, I'm sure a guilty feeling teammate will make sure they have a good home if they can't free Bitch!

(EDIT2: Oh and Coil's power has not been forgotten. This was the better timeline for him, but you don't get to see why unfortunately, it's all behind the scenes stuff for now.)


	19. Letter Opener 2-7

When the elevator doors fold open, I see that we are in one of the higher levels with offices and conference rooms as Armsmaster strides forward without looking back. As soon as I step out of the elevator I can hear a short blip of noise coming from the communicator, then Leet speaking after a second of silence. "Oh, good, the connection's finally back. You guys must have been in a shielded area or pretty far underground. Anyways, I'm at the theater lurking in a nearby ally, so whenever you teleport over I'm ready for operation 'parental fake-out'. Things going well?"

I don't talk back to him, aware that Armsmaster will likely hear anything said aloud. How on earth is Dom expecting us to answer back without giving away the fact that we have a third member? He's the one who specifically told us to keep him a secret, the dummy.

Herald and I are led to what looks like your average meeting room. After a few seconds of silence from the both of us, Leet seems to get the idea. "Right, uh, you guys can't talk right now, uh, shit. Ok, Herald, you hum quietly if it's a yes, Messenger, you hum is it's a no. Got it?"

Herald hums quietly, and I resist the urge to snort at the ridiculous solution Leet came up with. Clearly I should come up with a plan for future situations like this, if this is the best he can come up with.

"Oh good, phew, I was worried there for a second. Ok, anyways, I finalized my plan a bit and made sure it's solid. It's brilliant, and will keep these assholes from asking us too many questions. Our main problem is identity and stuff, so Herald, you pretend to be the Tinker of the group. You can style yourself like Armsmaster, he's super competent with his gear, and a bad ass fighter, so he won't be suspicious of your skill as long as we try to downplay your versatility with non Tinker stuff. We keep me secret for now, I work on Tinkering in the lab, making gear, deconstructing stuff with Messengers help, and so on. I won't have much time to go out and fight evil if I'm busy working on tech, right? I also learn to be a better actor and build myself some stuff that will let me fake having another kind of superpower. Later I 'join' the group as a new cape, and it's way less suspicious this way. You guys in?"

As I sit down in a comfortable chair, I consider his plan. It certainly would look less suspicious if we got the 'third' cape some time later, and it would give him time to work on basic acting skills. Having a slouchy Tinker and muscular fighter type would be too suspicious, but a muscular Tinker and ordinary guy with a flashy power that's easy to fake? Not a bad plan at all. Especially since it keeps him out of the fighting for a while. It's pretty obvious to me that Leet's not a fighter, he likes making things, being creative, filming, even Tinkering. But actually going out into danger? Not his style at all.

Some PRT guy comes in and leaves some papers on the table in front of us, and a few more nameless folks sit down around the table with us. They aren't wearing the usual PRT riot gear stuff, so are likely office drones or manager types. I mostly ignore them since nothing seems to be happening, and I have to think about Leet's plan since we might have to implement it right away.

I figure that as long as we have his inventions to help us, he's still contributing massively to any fight we get into. He hardly has to put himself into danger to help, one more warm body won't be of much use when I can just make more selves. Even the simple little fireball launcher helped turn the tide immensely against the Undersiders. They wouldn't have been forced to flee if I hadn't been capable of doing that, it's the only way to have an advantage against a cloud of darkness and no visible targets. Without the fireballs, I would have been stumbling around, looking for them by feel. Heck, they likely would have been able to get Hellhound back from us with that darn darkness cloud stopping us cold.

I look over to Herald, wanting him to hum yes to the plan, only to see that he's looking at me, clearly wanting me to hum no. Right, I had forgotten he had some kind of problem with 'taking credit' for Leet's work. Our staring contest is interrupted by Armsmaster.

"I've received a brief report from the team sent to take statements from the attacked civilians. The Undersiders appear to have attacked a secret casino being run by the ABB in the basement of the building, the upper levels were unoccupied. They took several bags of money, and fled. Only two casualties from bullets fired blindly into the darkness. The majority of Undersiders managed to flee the scene of the crime, but thanks to these independent Heroes, Messenger and Herald, Hellhound has been successfully captured and is in custody."

"What about Kumo Yokai, I heard that he was likely present, and that's why you were sent out to assist?" One woman in a rumpled suit asks concerned.

"I saw few signs of him when I arrived to take a brief scan of the crime scene. If he even _was_ there, he was keeping his head down and location secret. The ABB had fled the scene by the time I arrived, and only civilians were left. If he was present, he likely retreated once all the ABB members were gone and all assets removed. As a precaution I assigned Aegis to guard the team taking statements and collecting the wounded, as he is immune to anything Kumo Yokai could attack him with."

"So what happened?" One grey suited, older looking guy with a bad comb-over asks, giving Herald and I a measuring look.

"If the independents would make a verbal report of the situation and sign the papers before them, then we will all be able to find out the answer to that. I am currently recording, so a written report will not be necessary."

Crap, now they are all looking at us. Luckily Herald can tell I'm nervous, and he speaks up for the both of us. He is probably immune to stage fright by now, the lucky bastard.

"We saw three monstrous looking creatures run down a street and approach the building. Once the creatures drew closer, we were able to tell that they served as mounts to four capes. The beasts broke down the front door and proceeded inside with their four riders. We were able to identify Grue and Hellhound, so we knew that they were criminals and likely attacking people or stealing something. We heard a few shouts and screams before the sound was cut off from inside, and decided to render aid. Thus we quickly costumed up and proceeded to attempt to stop and capture them. I knocked Hellhound off her dog as they left the building, and Messenger distracted the rest of the Undersiders. We subdued her, and the other Undersiders took the opportunity to flee."

"And you didn't try to stop them?" Comb-over asks angrily.

"Of course we did. However our foes were canny, and Messenger was unable to acquire any more prisoners."

"They were fleeing too quickly, I did not wish to risk killing one by knocking them off the dogs at high speed." I add, to make sure they knew I could keep up, but was putting safety first.

"Hmm, I see. That's reasonable and very level headed." Rumpled lady seems to approve at least. I like her much more than comb-over.

Armsmaster asks Herald, "Do you have any information on the two unnamed capes who were with Grue and Hellhound?"

"A girl in a purple and black skintight costume seems to have some sort of super senses, or other Thinker power. She said something to her teammates indicating that she knew we were lying in wait for them outside the casino waiting for them to exit, she seemed smug about it. There was also a boy with a poofy renaissance shirt and theater mask, he seemed to be able to cause muscle spasms in a persons limb, causing arm flailing, dropped items and so on. Both appeared to have little armoring on them, but I don't get the feeling that they were brutes. They seem to favour hit and run tactics, and avoiding trouble."

"Anything else?" He looks at me this time, head tilted slightly in question.

Since I had a better view of the entire fight than Herald, I do have a bit more information. Picking my words carefully, I tell them, "When they were fleeing, they attempted to circle back around to retrieve Hellhound, but the purple girl somehow knew that the PRT van was approaching and abandoned the rescue attempt in order to flee. When I followed with stealth, she knew and verbally told her teammates why they were not going back to their lair. She seemed less effective while her sight and hearing was obscured by Grue's darkness. The boy seems to only be able to affect one target at a time with muscle spasms, but can switch rapidly between them."

"Interesting, it's possible that she could hear the van then. Anything else on the boy's powers?" A grey haired woman asks while making notes on a paper in front of her.

"No." I decide not to mention that I stole his scepter. I kind of like being able to taser people and want to keep it. I suspect that if they knew it was his, they'd take it for evidence. Plus it's nothing to do with his powers, just a fancy looking taser. If it was Tinker Tech, it would be pretty lame since it's no more powerful than normal tasers.

"I'll have to try sound dampening technology next time." Armsmaster sounds frustrated. He must have tried to catch the Undersiders before. I could see how it would be annoying if they fled before he could even get close to them, it certainly annoyed me a bunch.

Leet takes advantage of the moment of silence as the PRT people think things over. He seems to know that if he tried to talk over them it would make us unable to hear anything they said and give away the comms.

"Ok, Messenger obviously likes the plan, so that's why you didn't hum no, Herald, you clearly want to say no, but can't. Look, dude, I know you don't want to take credit for my work, I get it. You feel like if you are pretending to have the inventions, combined with your awesome mad skillz, then you'd have everything and I'd have nothing. But it's not like that dude! I don't give a damn about recognition for heroics or villainy or crap like that. I'm ok with not being on the front lines or well known. Most Tinkers don't go outside of their cosy, well defended lairs, protected by teammates, the Protectorate, or the Toybox. I-"

He gets interrupted and stops himself as Armsmaster asks a few more questions, "You reported signs of Kumo Yokai in the area when you called it in. What made you believe he was in the area?"

Herald takes the lead again, making up a very convincing lie. "While Messenger was chasing the Undersiders, I was still securing the prisoner and taking her to a safer area so that the ABB's warriors could not attempt to take revenge upon her. I noticed a few odd insect movements and given the location, made a quite reasonable leap of logic. I could be wrong of course, but it seemed sensible to warn our incoming allies of the possible threat. Communication is important after all."

"Any particular reason why you two decided to take on an entire gang of criminal capes by yourselves, not even knowing the powers of half of the group?"

Herald glances over at me and I can tell that underneath the mask he's smirking at me. "Overconfidence perhaps, but given the Messenger's abilities it seemed reasonable to think that _we_ actually outnumbered _them_."

Hmpth, asshat. Throwing my words back at me. I need to plot a suitable revenge for this.

Armsmaster just nods, his mouth set in a disapproving line. Probably thinking something along the lines of 'arrogant kids' or 'how dare they do my job better than me'. I do my best not to react with a giggle as Leet chimes in.

"Oooh, _burn!_ Anyways, as I was trying to say before, dude, don't be fucking dumb. Plus, now that my stupid power has been hotfixed by a generous application of shenanigans, you are probably gonna start feeling left behind. Before, we both had lame powers, but now yours is gonna start looking like it's the weakest one. What can you do that more Messenger's can't do, right? Brzzt! Wrong! I can't act, Messenger doesn't know how to fight awesomely yet. Tons more shit too. You are incredibly useful and powerful because you can do what we can't. You can teach expert level skills to our little protege, and you can be my stand in, to keep me out of politics, danger, and other crap. You are the glue that makes this work dude. This way I can be left alone in the lab to make shit, film, and maybe even have enough free time to get a girlfriend one of these days."

Herald looks thoughtful for a moment, then sighs softly. Letting out a low hum, he picks up the paper in front of him and gives it a brief skim.

"Sweet! Dude, you're the bestestest! You won't regret it man, I'm gonna make you look like a great Tinker, the best!"

Herald talks right over Leet's praise and tells me, "Hey Messenger, these look safe to sign. Let get finished up shall we? Tis getting late."

I nod at him and sign my paper with the provided pen. At Herald's words, Armsmaster looks up from whatever he was doing and focuses on us again. My guess is some kind of computer interface on the inside of his screen had been catching his attention for the last minute. Kinda rude, zoning out and ignoring us during a meeting like that.

"Before you go, would you mind answering a few questions not related to this incident?"

Hah, knew it. I just bet that the first question out of his mouth is, what are your powers? Aka 'how dangerous are you?' but in more polite terms.

Herald shrugs casually, "Depending on the questions."

"I am familiar with Messengers power, but what is yours?"

Bingo! I totally called it. I can't help but grin a bit smugly under my scarf mask. Looks like we had decided on the Tinker deception strategy just in time. I mean, sure we could have simply avoided answering the question, but that would look bad compared to being 'open' and 'honest'. Not that the PRT or the Protectorate would know what that was even if it bit them on the ass.

"Ah, well, I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread it around, but I'm a Tinker. Designed Messenger's prototype costume myself actually."

Leet snorts in my ear as he laughs quietly. Clearly he is enjoying the deception. I suppose if Herald wasn't totally convinced on Leet's plan, he'd have just put off the question for now, but I guess this means he is actually willing to go through with it. I hadn't been sure, even if he did hum yes. It could have been a 'maybe yes' or an 'I'll think about it'.

"I see. I had heard there was a Tinker who could make high quality DragonHide cloth, it is a pleasure to meet you. You know, someone with technology like that is always welcome in the Protectorate." He offers with what sounds like genuine interest.

Tipping his chair back, Herald props his feet up on the table in one lazy movement. To me it looks kinda forced. When he's actually casual and lazy, he moves gracefully and smoothly, this is more like he's forcing himself to appear calm and unconcerned.

"Nope. I know exactly why you lot want me, and I'm not interested. Perhaps I'll sell you folks some bolts of the fabric later? We can hammer out a deal if the Protectorate or the PRT is willing to make it worth my while. I'll for certain sell some to the Guild, they're decent folks up north, very noble and honorable."

Ooch, buried barbs indeed. Well, I suppose it's only to be expected. All three of us are pretty united in our dislike of the current establishment, their petty rules and underhanded tactics. How they only seem to care about power, not about what is right. I'm still too terrified of what could go wrong to snark off to them, but Herald probably lost his fear of them long ago.

"You might reconsider joining us in time, but I admit I'm interested in your offer. You can produce entire bolts of the fabric? What is your device's limitations?"

"I can make plenty of the fabric if I have the right materials, but the details are not up for discussion. Now, are we done with the prying questions?"

"Might I also inquire as to your specialty?"

"No, no you may not. Even if I knew, I'd not tell you. We might be allies, but you are no friend of mine. We are not yet brothers-in-arms, and I doubt we ever will be." He tells Armsmaster dismissively.

"Going a bit medieval much?" Leet mocks Herald in our ears.

Armsmaster seems a bit annoyed with Herald's attitude, but I suppose I can't blame him. Feet up on a table is kinda insulting, especially with the flat denials and lack of co-operation.

"Fine. You two are registered as the captors of Hellhound while she was committing a crime. Your statement has been taken, you have signed papers stating that your recorded words are truthful and complete. Unless you have anything else to say, you are both free to go. I warn you that independent heroes are more at risk of severe injury and death, and that you should consider joining a proper team."

" _Our_ team is more than adequate for the task of capturing criminals. Do try to not lose Hellhound now that you have her, hmmm?"

Herald delivers this sarcastic line perfectly, and I see Armsmaster's beard twitch as he frowns strongly. I'm pretty sure that Herald just implied that both the Protectorate and PRT is not capable of capturing criminals, and that they have a record of capes escaping custody. Heh, I get the feeling that Herald is working out some frustration by verbally lashing them. Makes sense, after what the Protectorate did to Uber and Leet, but I hope he doesn't go too far.

I should probably nip this in the bud right now. I try to diffuse tensions with a nod at Armsmaster, and get up to go, forcing Herald to get up and come with me. No reason to let this devolve any further. Herald is a grown man, he should know better than to taunt them like that, even if it _is_ satisfying.

Once I get him over to the elevator, I wink at him and teleport out through a window, leaving him to make his way out alone. Once I'm on the ground I let out the laughter that I've been holding back. "Haha, now you have to make your way out on your own. Serves you right mister overconfidence. Seriously dude, not cool making Armsmaster mad. We need them to pay us lots of money for DragonHide cloth, not get them too mad to work with us. I know they are asses, but they are rich, government backed asses. Anyways, I'm on my way Leet, just gonna change into normal clothes."

"Cool, I'm gonna go get some arcade tokens then, so we have something to do while we wait for your dad to drive here. It's a bit later than we ought to have left it, but not by much. Oh and Herald, don't pay any attention to the party pooper midget. I think that bitch Armsmaster totally deserved his comeuppance. I mean, seriously, even _we_ managed to break out of prison. They kinda suck at keeping the streets safe."

"Hey!" I snark back. "I'm gonna be taller than you in a few years. We'll see who's the midget then!"

"Oh no, midget uprising! Run for the tall shelves!" He cackles and with a short blip, his communicator is shut off. I can hear a few background noises from Herald's comm, but he must still not be able to talk.

"Sorry to ditch ya Herald, but I gotta go. Have fun sneaking back to the lab. See ya tomorrow!" I reach up and press the little button on my own comm, then pull it out of my ear. Time to go home.

* * *

New day, new adventures right? Too bad it's a pretty crappy, rainy day today. The most drab grey sky you could ever imagine, with intermittent drizzle just enough to make my hair a frizzled damp mess. But at least I have plenty of fun stuff to do today. I actually get to spend all day hanging out with friends! First up, lunch with Amy.

Well, second actually. Er, make that third. First is a brief workout on the ship, second is a pit stop at the Lab to grab my finished costume from the fabber. Apparently Mark worked on the final details last night and set the machine to making it as we all slept. Today was supposed to be the wrap-up party when filming would be done and we'd party a little bit, so he had wanted it done for today.

Unfortunately it seems like we'll have to finish filming another night when there is less attention on that illegal casino building.

I practically bounce into the fancy restaurant and look around eagerly for her costume. Spotting a flash of white and red, I make my way over to her table. When I had told my dad that I was going out to have lunch with a new friend, and that this one was a girl named Amy, he had seemed oddly overjoyed and shoved a twenty at me to pay for my meal. I suspect that despite my claims of their gayness, my dad was still suspicious of me hanging out with two college aged men.

"Hey." I nod at her and slide into the opposite side of the booth.

"Oh, don't you look different." She eyes me and and down in delighted surprise.

"Yeah, my teammate finally finished my costume. The previous one was just some prototype he wanted me to test out before he made the real thing. This one actually has color, thank goodness!"

"I can see that. I like this one much better than the drab black one, much more heroic looking. And the details, wow, this one is really detailed. We almost look like we could be on the same team with the colors you are using."

"Heh, that's actually your fault a teeny bit. After he made your costume, he said he loved the way the two colours looked so much, he had to steal the idea for me. Sorry. I can make him change it if you don't want me to look too similar to you?" I ask her timidly, hoping we don't have to try and figure out another color scheme for my costume.

"Nonsense, I certainly don't own two colors. There's only so many color combinations out there, and it's kinda nice to think I inspired a copycat."

"So, what do you think of the whole look?"

"Hmm, can you get up and maybe spin around for a sec? I want to see the back before I give you feedback."

"Sure."

I decide to show off a bit and just teleport to a standing position, then slowly spin around awkwardly, holding my hands out to better show off everything. There are a lot of gawkers from other sections of the restaurant. They had likely already noticed Amy before I came in, but now that I was here, it seemed like they couldn't stop staring. I almost shrink in on myself a bit before I notice myself doing it, and force myself to stand proudly.

I'm a hero dammit, I'm not going to be a shy bullied little girl anymore. Ignore the eyes, the gossip, the rude comments. The hate, the... Wait, no. I'm just being paranoid today. I'm a hero out for lunch with Panacea, the attention is probably good attention. I tilt my head to the side, and force myself to focus on Amy. I'm here to hang out with her, not wallow in my insecurities.

"So?"

"Good colours, light but bold, eye catching for sure. I love the gold designs on the red hood and shoulders, even going down the front too. The intricate little swooshy lines kind of evoke speed and grace, good for a teleporter. It's somewhat medieval in look actually, like something you'd find embroidered on a noble's outfit. They go well together. The white body is nice and simple, I like that you kept it plain so that it wouldn't distract from the more intricate upper part. Honestly, I'm not sure if the dark grey pants fit with the rest of it. You might want to look into trying other colours for the pants later."

I nod at her and sit back down. "Yeah, I might play around with that later. I was thinking maybe simple black so you don't even notice them compared to the rest of the costume."

"Anyways, I like that your costume is practically covered with little pockets, loops and pouches. Looks like it could be very handy to attach or store all sorts of things. But the wings! They look much nicer than the previous ones, still all white but the red tips really tie it together. The feathers are much larger too, right?"

"Yeah, he figured out that larger, wider feathers meant less cloth needed for the same lift, so it didn't have to be quite as cumbersome as the previous set. Looks less like wings this way, but I don't care much about the looks. Oh and the red tips are actually a different fabric, since the wing stuff can't hold color well. It's meant to both protect the ends from fraying or bursting from the force of being used as a parachute, as well as weigh them down a tiny bit so they don't go flying all over in a light wind. The best part is that I don't need to have as much of an air collection flap with this version. When I'm falling down the right way, air goes into these channels hidden under the red shoulder mantle, see?"

I lift the edge up to show her the honeycomb-like holes built right into the costumes structure.

"Then there are a few channels also built into the armpit area, so I only need a little bit of extra fabric hanging down the back of that area, not the full arm webbing from before. Air goes into the feathers from these two spots, fills em up, and I stop falling fast. I like that now all the stopping force is focused on my shoulders and back. Nearly broke my arms a few times practicing, when half of the force would go into them."

"Oh fudge, are you ok?" She asks, brow furrowed in concern.

That's just adorable, she actually said fudge instead of a swear. I better nip this concern in the bud however, before she thinks I need healing. Hmm, I wonder... If she healed me, would she be able to tell I'm a girl? One more reason not to let her I suppose, at least until I know more.

"No, no, I'm fine. Really! I said nearly, only because it was my afterimages getting hurt and breaking their arms. Don't worry. I'm really careful, and as long as I am, I'm impossible to hurt, remember? No healing allowed from you!"

And as I say this, I bop her lightly on the head with my paper menu.

"Bad Amy! This is a fun lunch, no worry allowed. Besides, does it look like my arms are broken?"

She lets out a cute little snort, and giggles softly. Dangit, I wish I laughed cutely like that. I'm more a donkey braying, pig snorting type myself. "Ok, ok! Sorry. No worry allowed. Anyways, your costume is absolutely clever, the air channels, and little loops and pockets, and all the detail. Even though you already made me an awesome costume, I'm a bit jealous just because of the sheer work your friend must have put into designing it."

"Yeah, even I'm surprised by it. It's ten times better than I ever hoped for."

"Oh, hey, your mystery friend ever come up with a cape name for himself?"

"Oh, yeah, he's going to be called Herald now. He's kinda a big fan of medieval stuff in general, so I think his costumes going to be similar to mine in style, but more armored and knightly. He hasn't finished it yet, but he's a Tinker so I don't think he'll ever truly be done adding and upgrading it."

"Heh, yeah I've heard they are always improving and changing stuff. How did he pick his name? It sounds kinda similar to yours in style, so you two must be planning on teaming up more permanently right?"

"No clue what made him pick Herald, I think he just likes the sound of it. We still need a team name, but we've already caught our first cape villain as a team so at least we work well together."

"Really?"

"Yup, last night we were just hanging out, having fun, and them bam, this group called the Undersiders race by on giant mutant dog monsters. They go and attack this secret ABB underground casino, and we quickly costumed up. He actually had to use a mishmash of some spare costumes he had made for testing stuff out. We ambushed them when they were leaving, and Herald managed to knock this girl called Hellhound right off her dog mount. While he was busy with her, I distracted the entire rest of their team with afterimages. Once Herald was clear of the fight, I drove them off using this little fireball launching invention of his. It's not that great, but it was enough to force them to retreat. Then we handed over Hellhound to the PRT, and talked to Armsmaster a bit about what happened."

"Wow, that's a busy night. Congratulations. Sounds like it was exciting."

"It was, I've never felt my heart pound so hard. It was a mix of terrifying, exhilarating, and, well, I don't know how to describe it. It's not like anger, more like determination, but also excited and focused and, well, just a lot of stuff all mixed together. I liked it a lot."

"Heh, makes me almost want to try some heroics myself. Between you and my sister, you make it sound so tempting."

"Well if you ever want to moonlight as a hero instead of a healer one day, we can make you a costume and you can join us for a day. No-one would ever have to know." I tease her gently.

She looks a bit surprised at the offer, but it's hard to read her emotions any more in depth as they flash by too quickly. Would be easier if I had more selves up, but that would be a silly waste of my power, I need it later after all.

"Well it's a kind offer, but I think I'll leave the heroics to others for now. So, changing subjects, have you been here before? The spinach and arugula goats cheese salad is amazing, it's got dried cherry's and little mandarin orange slices. They also have great sandwiches, and I love the quiche of the day, it's always a new flavour."

"Ooh, the salad does sound good, I think I'll look at the sandwiches, and grab one of them with the salad."

"You guys, you always eat so much. Normally the salad is more than enough for me just by itself." She tell me, faking annoyance.

"Well, you know how it is, a bottomless stomach comes standard with every teen boy." I joke as I look through the options on the menu. Oooh, the turkey melt sounds good, but so does the steak sandwich.

"Please tell me you at least aren't a total pig when eating?"

"Nah, I'd get food all over my shiny new costume if I did that. Not gonna risk staining this on my first day wearing it, Herald would kill me!"

So far so good. I like hanging out with Amy. I have to be a bit more careful with my jokes, she's a rather sensitive and shy girl under it all, but she can be surprising sometimes. Suddenly fierce and angry, or bitter and sarcastic. But it's interesting. She's got layers, depths to her that I suspect few people bother to get to know. I think it will be fun getting to know her better.

I just hope she likes me back and isn't just humoring me, otherwise it would be proof that I'm incapable of a normal friendship with other girls. That would suck, I'd hate for Emma to be right about that. She'd taunted me quite a lot about how unlikable I was, and I dreaded finding out that she was right all along.

* * *

A few hours later, I was sneaking into the secret lab. It was located in an underground basement of an old office building in the warehouse district. The brick building on top of it was so derelict and weathered that it had partially collapsed, covering the stairs down. In order to get into the lab, you had to go into the sewers, and find a section that looked broken down and ill repaired. A clever fake wall would open up if you pushed on the right spot, and voila. A secret tunnel leading to the secret lab.

I emerge from the tunnel and see them both mucking about with gadgets. Dom is cutting sections of the moving platforms off with some kind of welding torch, and Mark is busy messing with the fabber's computer. I smile and explode into a full cascade, using my excitement to let me easily reach five selves. All of us shout out excitedly, "I'm back, I'm back, and I had the best time ever!"

"Did you now?" Mark asks fondly, somehow managing to mimic my father a bit to sound all parental and doting.

"I did, I did!" One of me declares and twirls around with joy while the others dissolve away.

"Amy loved my costume, she was even a bit jealous of all the detail in it. Although she thinks the pant's should be a better colour. I told her about Herald and catching Hellhound, then we had food and talked about her school, and classes, and then about celebrities, and movies and books and pretty much everything it's possible to talk about."

"Sounds like you had a good time Taylor. Good to hear she liked the costume, I worked every night this past week to make it perfect."

"I could tell when I first saw it, it's absolutely professional. Although why is the texture so odd? Everything now feels more like the feather fabric, and not like DragonHide. What did you change?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry, I ended up adding the electric proof layer to the whole outfit, and for a very good reason."

"Oh?"

"Yup!" Dom speaks up, turning his torch off and coming over to us.

"I saw how effective you were in that fight with only a single stolen stun gun scepter doodad, you are totally gonna want to watch the footage I caught, it's fucking badass. So I'm gonna soup it up, and take it to the next level for you. I've already taken the thing apart, it's just normal tech, but I can add in a few of my low key but nice power sources once we rip em out of old inventions, give it a new casing of something tough but conductive. Then you will have a sweet stun weapon to take any normal person out of a fight. I'll get you something better for Brutes later, but this will guarantee any thug or non durable cape will go down in only a few hits."

"The best way to be effective is to have the stun part always on, that way even glancing blows will effect an opponent and you don't have to think about when to activate it or not. So now all of your costume is immune to electricity to protect you from it."

Mark sheepishly rubs his head and explains, "It was a last minute addition admittedly, so I didn't realize the black pants would be so affected by the extra layer, sorry. I'll try and figure out a way to darken the pants later. Just don't hit yourself in the face with your weapon and you should be safe. We haven't actually built your weapon yet since we still don't know what kind you want, but once you do, it's as good as built."

Huh, I'll admit, being able to shock the Undersiders so easily was really useful. I think the only ones in that fight who might have been resistant to that tactic was the dogs. Having a better weapon, one that I actually know how to use? It could let me easily take out groups of thugs non-lethally. Too bad they only stay stunned while I'm actually touching them, but I can work with that if I get something to use to tie them up with fast once I have them down.

"Nice, I like that idea. You don't have to bother with the pants Mark, I don't really care. I was actually thinking about this while I was grounded, and using the scepter made me decide upon it for sure. I was thinking maybe a baton, like cops use, it would be nice and fast. But I also am considering a quarterstaff or something longer. More reach could help me hit someone, maybe two people at once, and I can use it to defend myself."

After a bit of thought, he responds, "Hmm, I'd go baton for you, defense is something your afterimage assault will never really need to worry about. I can teach you how to use the baton to defend yourself when needed, you don't really have the strength to just straight up block an attack anyways, you'll have to learn to deflect and dodge. Given your height, I'd go with a two foot length for you. That should be plenty long, combined with your natural reach and teleportation, but still concealable. I'll make something to strap it to your leg with."

"Alright, that sounds fine. Probably better this way, I'd have a hard time carrying around a weapon almost as tall as me. Don't know how Armsmaster does it."

"Ooh, ooh, can we do the fun part now? I wanna test something and finally unbuild stuff!"

"I... don't think unbuild is a word Dom. In fact, I'm pretty sure it isn't."

"Yeah, I gotta agree with her on this one buddy."

"Shut-up, it's a word because I said it, and you all understood what I meant. That's the definition of a word!"

I roll my eyes at him. "Yeah, I give up, I'm not gonna keep arguing here. You win, unbuild is now a thing. Now show me what you are all excited about, ok?"

"Right, ok, I've set up the snitch in another part of the building, this is my best laptop with the best screen. You are finally gonna try teleporting through a live feed."

Mark goes back to messing with the fabber, probably building his own costume. If it took a week to make mine with all that detail, his might take a while. I can understand him taking every moment he can for it.

Dom puts his laptop on a table, and I can see a dingy room with random moldy chunks of wood everywhere. It looks like the roof is half caved in, and some rain is making a small puddle in one low lying area. I gather my concentration, ignore my nerves, and try to teleport there.

Nothing.

Emotions churn in my gut, disappointment and regret mixing with bitterness. I try to not show it on my face, but must have failed because Dom loses his eager smile. I had been putting this test of for a while now, suspecting this would be the outcome, but hoping desperately that it was not. I had really wanted to be able to teleport though video feeds. Had my hopes set on it, despite the rarity of that ability. Having a few drones, or even the snitch itself as another point of view, it would have been so _incredibly_ useful. I'd have been able to go anywhere in the world if a webcam was setup there. Even use security cameras. But no, my power is just so limited, so crappy. I need others to prop me up, to make me useful.

"Sorry Dom, nothing. Didn't work."

"Darnit, oh well. Don't be sad Taylor, it happens. We test out shit and they often don't work, but it always means you've learned something, even when you fail. Science! We do what we must, because we can! Oh wait, let me find you the portal song, it's great. You'll totally love it."

As he fiddles with his laptop, I think about his oddball attempt to try and cheer me up. It's confusing, but sweet in a dorky way. He's trying to cheer me up because I'm his friend, so I shouldn't mope about. I should think about what I learned, and try harder to make my powers useful. So I'm not a weight dragging people down, stopping them from achieving their goals.

Ok, what do I know about this failure? It means that artificial screens and images won't work. I know glasses and binoculars don't affect my power, and that's reasonable since eyes are made with a lens built right into them. I have to be able to see my target, so eyes are important. Eyes also have the image flipped upside down, and it's sent to the brain to get flipped upright again, right? Or is it flipped side to side? Clearly I need to review biology next if I can't remember. Ok, so if flipped images don't matter, then a mirror should also be usable right? Time to test this.

I send out a self to the smelly and poorly cleaned bathroom down here. This place is rarely used. Without running water, they have to carry in a bucket of water each time they want to flush the toilet. It's gross, and pretty dark in here, very few working lights. However there _is_ a broken mirror above the sink.

I look into it and can see the hallway behind me. I make sure that my other self beside Dom can't see the area I'm teleporting to, focusing on watching him bring up this video of some silly song. I reach out and teleport, and suddenly there I am. It worked! A third self was able to appear with only a mirrors view of a location. It's not much, but at least it's something. I did learn something from my failure, and I can use this. One of those little mirrors on a stick that dentists use could be handy for me to carry around, just in case.

I smile at Dom as the song starts up, underscoring my mood perfectly.

 _"This was a triumph. Making a note here, huge success! I cannot overstate my satisfaction..."_

"Dom, it worked! I tried to teleport using the bathroom mirror and it worked. I did learn something from the failure, I just needed you to remind me to think about the positives and to forget about how cool it would have been if I could do it. I remembered that eyes have a lens in them, which is why glasses and contact lenses don't stop me, but they also have a mirror flip thing happening, so it seemed logical that I can also use mirrors."

"Hey, that's good. I know I have a hard time remembering that positive thinking junk sometimes. But I always have Mark around to kick my mopey butt if I need it, so I figure, gotta pass on the butt kicking, right?"

"Somehow I don't think a portal song about science, neat guns, and people being still alive is exactly the same as kicking mopey buttocks, but good effort Dom." Mark calls out from his side of the room.

"Really? Cool, maybe I'm not as crap at this as I thought. Ok, next is debuilding. The telescope test has to wait till tonight, so the sun won't blind you, plus the clouds are supposed to go away by then. Have to actually be able to see the moon for this to work. At least we know it will work from the lens thing."

"Hahah, sure. I think I can sneak out easily enough later."

"Good, so here, take this item, bounce it around and I'll work on getting the component out of the Prime version. This item is a handy dandy low powered body heat absorber, and the worst that will happen if it backfires is slightly burned fingers, so good for a test run.

* * *

I hold various items over the next two hours, bouncing them around between two selves as Dom takes them apart. He takes pity on my boredom and at least lets me use his precious laptop for browsing the internet while I do my juggling impression.

The good news is that my solution works. I had been worried that some of his inventions were fated to explode no matter what, that my power wouldn't help. But it seems like it truly is a random chance for a backfire. Mark makes a few comments about quantum mechanics that I don't quite follow, but I figure it just means that no-one knows how or why.

We have successfully harvested quite a few useful Tinker components by the time I have to call a halt to this. I'm a bit impressed with my progress, I think I'm getting better at using my power, since it seems like I can go longer than two hours with two selves up and bouncing around. I might have to do another benchmark test soon to figure out my new limits.

Dom managed to escape the debuilding with only some bruises, a few mild shocks, and slight burns. He was wearing full protective gear the entire time, and boy it sure came in handy, especially when one of the gravity manipulators threw him hard against the ceiling.

We did notice that the rate of backlashes seemed to have gone up a bit by the end, so it will probably be best to dismantle the most dangerous items next session, and save the safer ones for later, when the risk is higher. Time to bring out my surprise, I have just enough energy left to sneakily send a self home to where I left it.

In I pop, this time holding a freshly baked, steaming hot, giant dish full of tasty lasagna. I snagged a few plates and cutlery while I was at it, I figure I'll do the dishes at home later.

"Ta-da! You guys kept on bringing the food to the photo shoots, so I decided that on wrap day I'd bring a lasagna. Technically we got interrupted and still have more shooting to do, but I already got the lasagna started yesterday, so no reason not to finish it up today anyways."

"Oh, wow, that smells good. You made this?"

"Yup! My mom's recipe."

"Hell Mark, I think she's better than you, expert cooking techniques and all."

"Hey, smell isn't everything. First we must taste it to be able to truly judge its character."

"Well dig in guys, there's ton's for everyone. Enough cheese in this sucker to clog a horse's arteries!" I cheerfully say as I pass the plates around and scoop out a chunk of heaven for myself.

"Damn woman, that's what I like to hear. If you weren't jail-bait I'd ask you to marry me right here and now."

"Ew, no thanks old man!"

"Ooch, if I wasn't older than Dom, I'd be laughing my ass off at that one."

"Mre, murhurhrhr."

"Dom, don't talk with your mouth full, it's gross and I can't understand you anyways." I scold him, waiting for my food to cool down before attempting my own first bite.

"Translation is, 'hey, this is good.' I think? It's hard to decipher Dom's food speak. If he was complaining about the temperature, I think there would be more shrieking and looking for water.

"Probably." I grin at them and take my first bite.

Ahh, warm cheesy goodness, is there anything better? Looking at the guys enjoying the lasagna reminds me of better times. Of Mom cooking dinner and Emma coming over to mooch some of it. Making cheese strings dangle from the fork, like weird spiderwebs, and competing to see who's was the longest before it broke. Emma complaining that her mom never cooked stuff this good.

It's a good memory, I'm still very fond of it even if remembering my mom means remembering Emma too. I don't know why Emma turned her back on this, on me. It still hurts to think of it. Of how we used to be.

I miss her.

* * *

It's now late at night, the sky is clear, and I'm back at the lab after going home and spending the evening with my dad. No sign of Mark anywhere, but I see Dom has been making good progress in using the items I helped him take apart, I can already see some item taking shape on the workbench as he fiddles with it. Wires stick out and wrap around many components, and I can see the two gravity manipulators embedded in there like blue robin eggs in a nest.

"Ready for the telescope test? I got some energy back so I'm good to help you take apart another item before I go home."

"Nah, not tonight. I want to try getting one of the bigger power sources out tomorrow while it's still relatively safe to do so. We'd go to another location for that, one that's got heavy duty shielding set up just in case. Mark made me an extra thick safety suit that should be proof against most things, and I'll do most of the debuilding remotely using a few things that still work ok. It'll take me a lot more time to debuild that way so you'd have to spend more time juggling the item. Probably take an hour an item this way."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I didn't get back a full hours worth of teleporting, not even close. Tomorrow then, and hopefully we don't blow up the city huh?"

"Aw, ok. No blowing up the city. So mean! Ok, there. I finished this last solder, it should be safe to leave it alone for now."

He puts his smoking tool back on a little metal stand, and wipes some sweat of his face. I guess all the protective gear he's wearing must be a bit hot, probably a good thing we aren't doing this in the summer. I can't imagine how bulky his gear will be tomorrow, or how much worse it will be at trapping heat.

"So, I'm assuming it's outside given the lack of a visible telescope?"

"Yup, I'll take you to it. Hey, I've been thinking while I worked on the flight-pack. Do you think your power has something to do with the photons themselves?"

"Photons, like the light particle things?" I ask as I follow him out the lab and into the sewers.

"Yeah, cus the photons that you see with your eyes hit stuff then bounced, but the photons you get from the laptop are made by the screen, they didn't bounce off anything. So what if your power will let you go to anything a photon has bounced off, if you can see it? It would explain why mirrors and lenses, but not electronics."

"That might work to explain it, that's a neat theory Dom. Too bad we can only test it if we find a way to trap the photons, to freeze an image and take it somewhere else. But I'm pretty sure that's impossible."

"Hmm, my power suggests it's not. Thinking about it, it seems like there's lots of crazy ways to trap a few photons. Controlled black holes, mirror cages only a few atoms wide, super cold temperatures and special materials. But most of these are for individual photons not a coherent group as an image. I'd have to go more in depth with my power to solve this, more than I normally like to go. We'd need a lot of expensive components, special tinker stuff, I don't know how stable any of it would be, but it's theoretically doable." He shrugs and looks back at me briefly in question.

"Nah, not worth it just to test a random theory, not with so little gain. Not to mention it will probably fail anyways because of the time difference. If you took a frozen light picture of a tree, moved it to the lab, and I tried to teleport to it, but didn't realize the tree was cut down? I don't think it would work, paradox or something."

"Well, there's always the chance that you'd be sent back in time to when the photons were captured, before the tree is cut down. Wouldn't that be freaky if it actually happened? I mean, I know travel to other alternate universes is possible, and I know freezing time is too, surely some cape out there can travel back in time?"

"But would you even be able to change anything that already happened? Would that self be connected to the me in the past, or the me in the future? There's too many questions with no answer. Heck, isn't there this one idea that says time travel might destroy the entire universe?"

"True, true. Probably best to avoid time travel for now. Besides, I just realized that there's an easy way to test it safely if we really want, although it won't tell us anything about if things in the past can be changed, which is why it should be safe."

"Really?" I ask skeptically. How the heck would we find old photons from the past that I could use to try teleporting?

"Space! I'm already going to test to see if you can go to the moon, but if we ever get into a big observatory, we can see if you can go out to stars! And the light from the stars is hundreds or thousands of years old, so it's kind of like traveling in time just looking at a star. Can you imagine? You might be the first person to ever visit some of them, if it works. And it might be back in time too, but to be fair, we might not ever be able to tell if you are back in time or not. No idea if it really will work, but I'm willing to break into an observatory if you are." He offers me, half serious.

Wow, that's a scarily big idea. Space. And possibly going back in time at the same time. I have to stop doubting Dom when it come's to science stuff, he's clearly pretty expert at it. I suppose it makes sense, he's the big science fiction fan, wheres Mark leans more towards fantasy.

"I'll have to think about it. Breaking into places is bad for a heroes reputation, but it might be cool to try if we can convince them to let us in legitimately."

I think his idea might actually work. If I could get to a good enough telescope, I would be one of the few humans to ever go out and explore space beyond the solar system. Or even just other planets in this system if the stars are too small and far away for my power to take me to them. It's been the dream of humanity for decades, but the Simurgh keeps on crushing it, destroying or driving mad anyone who seriously considers helping people escape this world.

I feel a sudden shiver and goosebumps crawl up my arms. There must be an opening somewhere that let in a draft of cool air. Right?

Crap, what if this was a warning engineered by _it_? What if the Simurgh affected me too much in Canberra? Or maybe it's trying to trick me into being paranoid enough to see it's hand in even simple coincidences? But I do know that if I dare to even think about doing anything serious with space, it will come after me. Somehow it will know. I don't dare think about anything more than exploring the limits of my powers, trying it out one or two times, and then that's it. I can't let it go any further, or I'm worse than dead.

Fucking Simurgh.

I could be imagining things, spinning paranoid fantasy's out of nothing. I mean, if it knew everything, all of humanity would be dead already, right? Maybe it can't learn I experimented with space travel, unless I try to actually use it to affect something, to change something? Or if I tell people, like Sphere told everyone before he was twisted into Mannequin?

If it's limited to knowing what the people fighting it knows, then that might work. Keep it secret to keep myself safe, maybe. It might keep me safe from it coming after me, coming to my city to kill me or turn me evil. As long as I don't dare to ever use my power like that. Never try to do anything that might matter.

It has to be around you for a while to know how to manipulate you, to turn you into a ticking time bomb... That's why they don't let you fight it too close to the last time, to give you time to recover and become a slightly different person than you were half a year ago. Right? So if I wasn't killed by my armband, I wasn't there long enough. It can't be controlling me... I hope?

God, I wish I was religious right now, I kinda want something to pray to.

The absurdity of my last thought breaks me out of my spiral of paranoid, negative denial, and frantic, obsessive evasions. I let out a bitter laugh and follow Dom up the ladder to the deserted street above. I've lost all enthusiasm for this experiment, but that's no reason to squash his excitement. He's never had to fight the Simurgh, to question everything. I know he isn't being influenced by it, Dom's never been near it. So if he thinks this is a good idea, I know it's not tainted by the Simurgh.

A thought strikes me as I glance around warily, looking for anyone nearby who might notice our emergence from the sewers. Dom can build _anything_ once. Can he build something that would stop it? I doubt he could build something to kill an Endbringer, but to prevent it from ever noticing something, from seeing something, from affecting a person? Like a safe room, or something that can be worn to make you immune to it's manipulations?

I hold this precious thought carefully in my head, and tuck it away for later. I hope and pray to any and all deity's that might exist, not to let _it_ find this idea. When we have money and resources to build it, I might take the risk and tell Dom. It might be risking his life, or worse, but if he can build something before it recovers from this recent fight? It might not be able to stop us from making ourselves safe. It will be a hard decision to make. The moment I tell him, I could be dooming him. He won't even have a choice, and anything that happens to him will be my fault. Can I take such a risk with his life, with his mind?

I'll have to decide that later. For now, I should focus on the task at hand, on learning more about my power. Worst case scenario is that the Simurgh drops out of the sky right now, and I already have a plan for if that happens. It's horrible, but I figure if I chop off one of Dom's legs with my emergency knife, I can take him with me to safety, hopefully fleeing faster than it can follow, especially if other capes show up to fight it. I'd try to find Amy first, to get her to stop the bleeding, but that's only if I have time.

Then if we lived, I'd tell Dom about my horrible, dangerous idea, and tell him that because of it, it's my fault we were attacked. I'd beg his forgiveness for taking his leg so I could teleport with him. Of course, the odds of noticing it approach in time is low. I doubt I'd have time to cut off his leg before the Simurgh killed him.

Ok Taylor, enough morbid thinking. Follow Dom up the rusty fire escape to the building roof, and try not to imagine him dying, cut in half by a pristine wing on an inhuman monster.

Focus.

I look out at the flat roof, covered in gravel and small stones. There's a fancy looking telescope set up and aimed at the sky, right at the moon that's making an appearance. I wonder why it hasn't been stolen by now if it's been up here for a while, but I suppose this area is pretty deserted. Abandoned warehouses next to empty buildings. Only squatters live here, and even they try to find better spots to sleep. Plus the streets are usually pretty dead on a Sunday.

Fuck, why'd I think that? I can't help but briefly imagine a dead Dom, blood pooled on the ground. Fuck you Simurgh.

I'm terrified, but I'm also pissed off. I suppose it had been too good to be true, my not feeling all that bad after the Endbringer fight. I figured, yeah, it was depressing, all the death and destruction. Yeah, I'd be paranoid for a bit after. But I arrogantly had thought I emerged from it just fine and went about my daily life not thinking too much about it. Guess not. It was just waiting for the right time to strike.

The night cools me while my anger at the monster keeps me warm, and one last bright idea keeps me from doing anything hasty, from fleeing, attacking, or who knows what. I instead reach out for peace, for something I know I can easily get. I cascade out to a full set of selves, not letting Dom see the two I send down to the street below. One self grabs my emergency knife, and stabs the other as hard as it can, right through the eye and hopefully into the brain.

Death.

True death.

The peace floats over me and I calm down, collect myself, and reflect upon my mistakes. The spiral of panic and worry, denial and bargaining, anger and fear, it all ends here. I'm good now. Better. Maybe once we have more funds, I really should get a therapist. Or I can keep killing myself like this. But this isn't a long term solution, and I'll need one if I hope to keep fighting _it_ , to one day help defeat the Simurgh.

I suppose this is what happens when it comes within seconds of owning you, of taking your mind and altering it like putty. I got lucky, I think I'm not going to do anything drastic this time. Maybe if she had more time to work on me I'd have snapped right now, hacked off Dom's leg, convinced that the Simurgh was coming, and killed him from blood loss.

I should be more careful next time, but there _will_ be a next time. I might be foolish to think this, but I will not let it win so easily. I will not back down. I will _matter_. I'm going to the fucking moon, and it probably can't stop me.

I hope.

A self turns to Dom and I am grateful that my mask means I don't have to try to smile. "Just checking to make sure we're clear. So, you said it's already set up?"

"Yup, this baby is set up right now to track the site of the first moon landing. There's some cool stuff still up there, a flag, a plaque, old lander gear, lots of junk. Good spot to aim for since then you can see something interesting and historical instead of boring moon rocks. If it works, we can hit the other sites if you want? I know I would if I could go up there myself to see it all in person. Try not to touch it cus the telescope is being moved ever so slightly by gears and crap to keep steady with the co-ordinates I plugged into it. It's a pretty sweet model, top of the line. I uh, might have stolen it from this one fancy store a while back when I was doing Leet stuff."

"Of course you did." I give him the dramatic sigh he is clearly expecting.

I roll my eyes and reassure him, "It's fine, at least it's getting good use now. Just remember, no more stealing now, otherwise I'll make you give it all back."

"Noo, I'll be good, I promise! I uh, normally would drop to my knees dramatically at this point, but the grounds kinda soggy from the rain earlier today and I don't want wet knees. Can we just pretend I did the proper amount of grovelling?"

"I suppose I'll forgive you this time." I manage a weak laugh and close one eye, putting my other one to the telescope sight, trying not to touch it and mess with the aim.

Huh, there it is. The moon completely fills my vision, a circle of light. Can I actually go there? Do I dare? I can see a few tiny, dark, craters. They stand out clearly against the white moon surface. I can't even see any sign of the lunar landing, but at this point I'm not doubting Dom's claim. It must be too small to see with this telescope. I'll probably end up in the non-air above the moon and have to let myself fall in closer to see anything. This better be a good enough landmark for my power to work, because I'm not going to let Dom steal a better telescope if this fails.

I gather myself.

Breathe out.

And.

Reach!

* * *

AN: Hi guys! This was so hard to write, especially as I lost a bit of it partway though. Nothing more frustrating than having to rewrite something.

As you can see, the Simurgh makes a little comeback here, as I'm trying to make sure she's properly horrifying, and doing it in just one short encounter is next to impossible. Hope you hate/like it. :P  
There may be a few more mini moments later, but the worst is now officially over. (At least until Taylor gets another dose of Simurgh's special song sauce.)

The closest image I found to Taylor's new costume is the one I've put up as the story picture, but I did modify it a bit to add in a black mask and make the hair a bit darker. (With my poor/horrible MS paint skills.) It's also lacking in wings, but I figure you can imagine em just fine, I trust in my readers mad imagination skillz. :D  
That's the best I could do with helping you imagine her properly, so enjoy? (She keeps her hair tied back and under the ninja mask that's under the fancy hood of course.)

Heralds eventual costume will be a bit like my profile picture, as another visual aid for you all.

I hope you didn't mind all the little personal interactions, there's a bit more next chapter too. Then there may or may not be a set of interludes before the next big fight. I haven't decided yet if I want to end on a big fight, or open with one. Decisions, decisions!

...

Still here?

...

Oh, right, I almost forgot, next chapter you get to discover more about the _moon conspiracy_! Isn't that great? :)

'What _moon conspirac_ y?' You ask?

Well, obviously the one on the moon, silly. :P

It's a thing that is not a part of cannon of course, but it totally fits into my AU. Its all Contessa's fault, her and her evil butterfly wings of cause and effect. After all, the Alternate Universe difference that gave Kumo Yokai bug powers clearly happened well before Taylor ever got her powers. So this moon conspiracy must also stem from this teeny tiny difference... :P

Feel free to have fun speculating on the conspiracy in reviews! One lucky reviewer, maybe two, will get the chance to name someone in the next chapter. (But only if the review isn't anonymous, since I can't PM anonymous people to get a character name.)

It won't matter if your theory is good or not, just that you have fun trying.  
(Oh and no, the conspiracy is not that 'there never was a moon landing'. Don't do that one.)

Have, fun and please review, even if it's just to point out horrible spelling mistakes because I have to edit this myself and I'm bad at it. :P


	20. Letter Opener 2-8

My first thought is that holy crap, it worked! My second, almost simultaneous one is that air escaping your lungs hurts _a lot_ more than I expected.

"Ow!" I can't help but gasp out to Dom, thankful that at least my Prime self is safe and full of air.

I can't help but giggle a bit as Dom looks concerned when I glance back at him, but I cut it short and hold my hand up to forestall his expression of concern. "I'm fine, just surprised."

My eyes are suddenly dry, my lungs and chest feel as if they have been torn to shreds, and even my tongue is tingly and feels dry. It's like bubbles are forming on it as my saliva disappears. My ears pop and I hear nothing but the beat of my own heart, the blood rushing around. I fight past the pain, refusing to dismiss that self. (The less said about the air escaping the lower half of my body, the better.)

I quickly realize that this is not going to work as well as I had thought it would. I can hold my breath for well over a minute, and had figured that I'd have plenty of time for each self to explore the moon in relative discomfort. But with all the air forcibly removed, I can already feel myself straining for air with my secondary body.

After a few seconds I send forward another self to get closer to the moon, patterned off the one who has already lost all her air. From my current position I think I can get much closer to the surface, and I use the telescope to help me keep track of what craters I want to get near. I'm assuming that the spot I want is right in the center of my view, but if I'm wrong I bet I can find it fast anyways.

The new self who has no air left, fortunately experiences no further pain, but after a few more seconds I realize that somehow I'm about to pass out, blackness slowly filling my vision. Almost ten seconds of vacuum and I'm already passing out? That's barely anything! I have no clue if this is normal, but I call bullshit. I should totally be able to last longer than this!

Thankfully the rest of me can think just fine, so I quickly make an executive decision and send out another self before I lose consciousness completely. This time I use the Prime self as the template, since more copies of the airless one will not help at all. Air rushes out of my mouth and nose even worse than before, and I feel a sharp pain as I taste blood.

Crap, I had just taken in a breath of air, and thus had more air to lose. Fucking. Ow. Note to self, breathe _out_ before each new self or else the pain doubles.

"Hey Dom, space sucks." I feebly joke, mostly concentrating on the moon and getting into a rhythm. Breathe in, out, in, out, new self forwards, pain and embarrassing flatulence. Rinse. Repeat. Getting closer to the moon surface each time.

"Firstly, that's a lame pun. Secondly, maybe we should have gotten you a helmet? Does the vacuum hurt a lot? We can abandon the attempt if you want, I mean, it clearly works and that's all we really needed to check."

"No, I'll keep going. I want to actually touch the surface of the moon and see the landing site for myself. To be able to say I've been, even if no-one ever knows."

"Cool, I can understand that. This is pretty historic, I mean, I think only a dozen people ever have been on the moon, and they've all been dudes, so you are about to be the first chick on the moon."

"Really? Huh, neat. Oh and have I mentioned how much it hurts to have all your lung's air forcibly removed? If you ever want some moon rocks to play with, you had better get me a damn helmet first."

"Ok, ok. Helmet for moon rocks, got it. Hey, when you sent out the first teleported copy, did you by any chance get the feedback from it _before_ you actually sent them out? Even by a second? Cus I'm pretty sure the light from the moon takes at least a second to get here."

"Nope, instantly as normal. Sorry. Hold on, I think I see something."

I don't see an object below me, but I _can_ see the shadow of something that is clearly man-made, stretching across the white landscape. Aha! I suppose it makes sense, the shadow will be much easier to see from above than something pointed vertically. I'm off to once side, so I quickly adjust my aim and head for the base of the long shadow.

"That's odd, it looks kind of like there is a really tall and pointy object down there making the shadow. I would have expected the lunar module to be more short and squat."

"Maybe the shadow is just funny cus it's the moon? I mean, people complain all the time that the shadows don't look real on the photos they took of the moon landings, that it's faked. Maybe this kind of thing happens up there for some reason?"

I breathe out and send a new self out even closer. Ow as usual. I'm almost on the moons surface now, and notice an oddity.

 _Two_ shadows are now visible. One immensely long and pointy one, looking like a finger of shadow, a sundial's arm. A second, smaller one that from a height had looked like a tiny crater, but now looks like a short, squat object, with the clear lines of another man-made object.

"Err, one sec Dom."

I decide to head to the shorter, smaller shadow first. It looks more like what I expect the moon landing junk to look like, not like the impossibly long spike of black that I saw first.

Breathe out, and... There! I'm actually standing on the moon. I half expect a fanfare, or even just a satisfying crunch of noise as I touched ground, but I hear nothing but blood rushing beneath my skin.

It is absolutely _eerie_ knowing that I'm standing on the moon, that there is not a single living thing upon it save for me. Stark white and grey ground, with shadows darker than I've ever seen them. A landscape of absolutes, of pain. Every moment on the moon hurts, but I grin anyways.

Fuck you Simurgh.

I look up and see the Earth. Awe slams into me and holds me still. This... This blue and white marble, standing out against the black of space. It seems so small. Like a soap bubble, fragile and easily destroyed. I can't believe that all of humanity is down there, all of life. And as I choke on vacuum and slowly suffocate, tears and saliva boiling away, I realize that we are so _incredibly_ lucky.

The universe is so hostile, I know this first hand now. We have one tiny oasis in the middle of nothing but death. And some idiots will fight over tiny scraps of it, will try to destroy parts of it, for stupid, worthless reasons. Who cares what colour someones skin is, their gender, religion, or even who they are attracted to? What does it matter that you die with more hoarded wealth compared to others? We should be trying to protect this world, this precious gift.

I will never be able to forget this. The facts and photos, the science I learned in school, nothing compares to the raw reality of being here, seeing it with my own two eyes. I realize I have to think bigger now. I can't just try to fix Brockton Bay. I have to try to fix the world. _All_ of it matters. It's all so small and connected, how could it not?

Reluctantly I stop looking for a second to send out a new self just before I run out of time. Eventually I force myself to ignore the incredible view above me. I'll have time for that later when I'm less tired. I'm going to keep this telescope, or save up money for my own. I _will_ be coming back to the moon, if not exactly here. I'll be able to see the Earth from any spot on the moon, so it won't really matter where I go. But for now I'm at a historic location, I should enjoy it while I can.

I survey the area and see the lunar lander, much smaller than I had ever imagined it. It seems lonely and lost, abandoned once it's job was done. Footsteps crawl all over the ground. I see the expected boot treads that every child has seen photos of in school, but I also see others. Some look like normal shoes, but one path is made with bare feet. I look down and take a careful step, adjusting to the low gravity and trying to make sure I don't fall over.

I suppose it was too much to hope that I'd be the first girl on the moon. It looks like a few other capes have been here, have looked at this historic monument to human ingenuity. I might never know who they were, or how many other people with the right powers got here first. But at least I'll leave my own mark in the moon dust with them. I remember reading that since there is no wind, footprints can last for thousands of years.

There is a flag planted nearby, but it is bleached white as snow. Not at all what I expected to see. More a symbol of peace, less of an American claim to dominion. I like it. Nothing can disturb the peace up here, no wind, not time, not man. Not even us few superpowered explorers. It seems like we are all loath to disturb the site, as every footstep I can see carefully takes pains not to disturb the original ones. We all walk around this testament to humanity, avoiding intrusion, avoiding wrecking it.

It makes me wonder about everyone who has been up here. Were none of them the type to destroy, none of them villains looking to make their mark? Perhaps there is something about the moon itself? Or the view of Earth? I can easily imagine the sight being powerful enough to render all sinister ambitions moot, it forces you to think about things bigger than yourself.

I create new selves to continue exploring for a bit longer, following the footsteps of others. They lead me to bits of discarded trash, tools and junk left behind. I find a strange small square mirror pointed at the Earth, with little tiny square sections that reflect the light in a pretty way. It's probably the most interesting thing here aside from the flag and lander.

Experimentally, I take off my glove and reach down for a handful of moon dust. Even if I won't take any with me, I want to _feel_ it. It's soft and crunchy like snow, cold too. Yet surprisingly rough and abrasive at the same time.

Dom interrupts my awed exploration by clearing his throat. I had almost forgotten that he was standing right beside me. It's been minutes now, as I explored and look around. "You still ok dude?"

I open my eyes, not realizing I had closed them to focus more fully on the sensations coming from my other self. That could have been dangerous, I should remember to keep watch for danger to my Prime self.

"Yeah, I'm ok. It's amazing that I'm actually on the moon." I tell him softly.

I glance at him briefly. "Looking up at the Earth, it's hard to explain. I feel awe. At the sight, at the implications, at the world. This tiny little bit of life, surrounded by death and darkness..."

A new fresh self on the moon looks back up at the Earth as I lift my head and look at the moon at the same time. Twin selves, separated by vast distances, each one gazing upon the other. The sense of peace, of detached contemplation that I feel right after a true death, it strengthens. I think that even if I had not killed a self tonight in a panicked effort to calm myself down, this would have done the same thing. I feel zen, in balance.

I can finally muster up a real smile, and lower my mask a bit to smile a bit guiltily at Dom. "Thanks."

He gives a cocky grin, "Hell, it was nothing, really. I just had this stolen telescope lying around anyways. Good to get _some_ use out of it."

"Hey, I think I'm finished looking at the moon landing site for now. I'm going to check out that odd long and skinny shadow I saw earlier and then call it a night."

"Oh?" He looks interested. "You mean that first shadow wasn't the lander?"

"Nope. I saw a shorter and smaller shadow later that seemed more lander shaped, so I tried it first. This other object must be way bigger."

"Cool, a mystery. Maybe it's aliens!"

"Hahaha, that would be cool, but I doubt it dude."

I quickly find the object that must be casting the shadow. I can actually see the top of something white and skinny from the Apollo 11 site, it stands out well against the black of space. As I get closer, a literal obelisk of white stone rises up from the lunar surface, what looks like a few hundred feet tall. This must be what cast such a long shadow, although I certainly cannot imagine this being a part of any moon missions.

"Dom, I just found an obelisk. This is the weirdest thing ever."

"A what?"

"You know, big tall stone spire things? Like a big spike?"

"Oh, huh. Shit, I hope it isn't actually aliens."

I secretly hope that it isn't the Simurgh. I might not be in a state of panic any longer, but suspicion still colors my mind. Perhaps this is an artifact left over from some plan of it's? To be fair, it has never shown any ability to go further than the edge of the atmosphere, it might not be able to actually come to the moon. This is likely the work of another cape, one who came to the moon for unknown purposes.

I approach closer and see words inscribed deeply upon it around head height, repeating on all four sides. Each is in what seems to be a different language, but recognizable as the same words. I had not noticed before, but there is a small table nearby, some cheap white plastic thing, and upon it is some papers. A large area of ground around it has been trampled by many feet, and there is a ring of small plastic folding chairs, each also bleached white by the sun. I send another self over to take a look at it while I read the obelisk's English side.

 **We do not go gentle into the good night.**

 **Humanity should burn and rage at the close of day.**

 **Rage, rage against the dying of the light.**

That seems familiar... While I can't recall where it is from, I do know that I like it. What is the word, poignant? Yeah, I think it's poignant. Poetic. After about a foot of blank space, names are inscribed below. There seems to be a few dozen names carved deep into the rock. I solemnly take it all in.

One name at the bottom seems familiar, recent. I trace my fingers over it. **Flicker (Peter Greer)** , I remember him. I read about him online while I was researching teleporting capes. He died a few months ago when he tried to save a bunch of people from the Slaughterhouse Nine in some small town in the middle of nowhere. They say he managed to save half the population before the rest were killed in a giant fire in retaliation. Speculation was that it must have been Flicker's home town, that there had to be a reason why a cape from Jacksonville, Florida would risk his life in some suicidal attempt to defy the S9.

I look upwards and notice that the spire seems to reach towards the Earth, a bridge between the two celestial bodies. This obelisk, it means that people are still trying. Even with the Endbringers promising pain and punishment, people are still trying to fight back. They even built a monument to their efforts on the moon itself, as if to mock the Simurgh. A great big middle finger aimed at her.

My other self has found a total of fifteen chairs, two of which are behind the white desk. On the desk are papers, left seemingly unguarded. They must be recent, otherwise they would have been bleached as white as everything else on the moon. One stack of papers the size of a pamphlet on top of the pile catches my eye.

 _Movement_

 _Our next meeting is March 19, 2011._

 _The randomly generated time is: 03:53 UTC_

 _The randomly generated location is: -38.93594 Latitude, 76.38319 Longitude._

 _This location is in the ocean, thus the meeting will instead take place on the southwest coastline of the closest landmass, known as Île Amsterdam._

 _Anyone who cannot make this meeting, please contact Strider for a copy of the minutes._

 _Don't forget to report your progress, or chose new assignments if you have completed yours._

Huh, interesting. Not much information here, but still something. I wonder if I'll get in trouble for showing up to their next meeting? I mean, they did leave these papers lying around where anyone could find them. (Ok, maybe not _anyone_.)

I really want to know more about these guys who built a monument on the moon, who seem to have the same ideals as me. It should be safe to simply show up and ask them, Strider is a good guy, a freelance hero. He's one of the most powerful teleporters in the world, and always helping people. Heck, I even briefly met him when he took me to fight the Simurgh. If they really don't want me at the meeting, I'm sure he'd just tell me to go, or take me home himself.

I turn to Dom and ask him, "Hey, do you have any paper? I need you to write something down for me."

"Uh, let me look?"

As I wait for him to grab some paper and a pen, I look at the other papers. One small pile seems to be a short list of cities, with a few cape names next to each city. None seem familiar, but to be fair, I hardly know all the capes in the world. More like a tiny scattering of the big names, and the big names from my own city. Most of these cities are not even in America, they are pretty scattered around the world.

Lastly seems to be a large, folded, slightly faded map of the world. When I unfold it and take a peek, it seems like there are spots marked with colours all over it. A few of the locations marked with red, I recognize as places that Endbringers have attacked. That color must indicate cities that have been destroyed. Matching them are a similar amount of spots marked in green. I don't recognize anything special about most of them, on the map it's hard to tell the specifics about what are the green dot is indicating since there are no city names on the map, just basic country boundaries. The only location that I think I recognize is New York. It's also the only location to have both a red and green dot.

I wonder what that means?

I suppose I can ask them later in a few weeks. As Dom starts to copy down the information that I tell him, I fold up the map and put everything back where it belongs. It would be rude to leave a mess behind, and it's not like I can blame any disarray on the wind. Looks like I have an interesting mystery to solve.

Not exactly what I expected when I decided to go to the moon, but given that the Simurgh has yet to descend and start attacking, I think it's gone well.

* * *

A week later and it's time to make some money for the team. I'm not sure if I should be feeling guilty about the guys giving me an equal share of any profits the costume fabber makes. I certainly didn't help build it, I don't know how to program it to make anything. I haven't had much to do with it other than to receive the benefits of it. But they insist, saying that they'd never get to sell anything without my ability to make them seem like legitimate good guys.

The sun gets into my eyes a bit as I glide through the air, so I raise my hand to shade them a bit. Mark is still trying to figure out a way to let me steer, but even without that ability, the new parachute design is vastly improved. Now I actually glide quickly through the air, not just fall slower. He claims that it's based off something called 'ram-air' design. All I know is that it's as good as flying, even if my landings are really bad this way. Suffice to say, I make sure to teleport down for all landings now.

I finally spot Heralds vivid red costume down on the boardwalk. He's ignoring the swirls of tourists and gawkers, and at least they seem to be giving him a bit of space. I teleport into a slightly different position, aimed right at him this time. It took me a couple afternoons of practice but I had finally gotten the hang of teleporting so that the feather cells stayed open and in position, this way I didn't lose too much time waiting for the air to fill them again. Otherwise I'd be falling for a second until they filled out again.

By the time I get close enough to make out the details, some of the people out to enjoy the spring air have spotted me and are pointing my way. I wait until Herald has looked up at me before I teleport in to stand beside him. His costume is much improved from the previous mishmash of items. He's kept the red theme, but added in a silver trim on all the thicker armor pieces, along with lots of intricate silvery lines and detail.

Shoulder armor flares out in smooth flaring curves, the extra thick bracers and leg guards share a similar winged shape, and his torso is covered in thick, ridged plates. It all looks very convincing even though I know that his armor is actually just very thick sections of fabric built up to look like metal armor. I suppose the silver trim helps with the illusion. Herald plans to add in some actual plates of special metal under the padding later, but apparently first we'll have to liberate some gear from the Protectorate.

It's too bad his own set of wings aren't quite done yet, it will be quite interesting to be able to have him join me in the air. From the sounds of it, he'll be much more maneuverable than me. I'd be jealous that he gets the only real flight gear, but he does need the movement ability much more than I do, so it's only fair. I still have the fireball launcher and stun baton, so my weapons are better than what he's currently got. Technically his only weapon right now is a normal, non stunning baton.

"Yo." I deadpan.

"Dude, you're almost late. How can you be late when you can teleport? It seriously boggles the mind."

"I'm gifted."

He snorts and rolls his eyes. "Anyways, this should be pretty simple. Hopefully they want plenty of costumes and we get enough to pay the deposit of that fancy lawyer the Number Man hooked us up with."

"Yeah, I mean, there's what, seven New Wave? Even if they only want two costumes each it should be enough."

"Yup, that's the hope."

I take in a deep breath, calming my nerves and ignoring the crowd that seems to be torn between taking pictures or standing around whispering about us. The salt of the ocean mingles with the fresh spring air, and seagulls screech as they hover above, looking for dropped food. The boardwalk has begun to get lively as the warm weather has been rolling in. Soon the buskers will be out, along with the street vendors playing their trade with cheap knockoffs and gimmicky trinkets.

Herald manages to spot New Wave first and stiffens beside me, then nudges me with his elbow. "Incoming." He mutters.

I also straighten up and try to look professional as a group of flying capes come in for a landing, sending new waves of speculation through the onlookers. None of the four in front of us wear masks because none of them have secret identities.

In the lead is Lady Photon, otherwise known as Photon Mom. She wears a white bodysuit with a starburst on the chest. Lines from the star's edges extend around her body, changing color from indigo to purple as they get further from the center.

Brandish, her sister, wears a white costume with orange trim and crossed-swords across the chest. She seems much more grim and menacing compared to the rest of her family. Almost everyone else has heart shaped faces and easy smiles, but she seems to have her face set into a perpetual frown as she looks us over.

Glory Girl, has her classic white one-piece dress that comes to mid-thigh with shorts underneath, an over-the shoulder cape, high boots and a golden tiara with spikes radiating from it. She gives us a little wave as she touches down, and smiles at the crowd.

Laserdream's white costume has a stylized arrow pointing down and to her right with half a dozen lines trailing behind it, with similar rows of lines trailing down her legs and arms. She also wore a ruby red hairband and sweeps her hair to the side over one eye. I wonder why she'd pick that hairstyle, it seems like it would block her vision and make it harder to aim her laser blasts.

"Herald, Messenger." Lady Photon nods at us in greeting.

I nod back, "Lady Photon."

Herald gives them a gallant looking bow, moving easily in his armored costume and focusing all attention on him. "Greetings New Wave! I am pleased to meet you in person at last. Might I suggest we take this discussion to the end of one of the piers? It might be a bit easier to discourage people from attempting to overhear our discussion if there is limited room to get to us."

"Certainly." Lady Photon replies, inclining her head at us regally. I can see why she added 'Lady' to her cape name, she has the bearing and poise for it.

Instead of flying off again, they seem to be willing to walk there with us. That's courteous of them given that Herald is limited to walking since the flight pack isn't done yet.

As we start to walk down the pier that extends out into the ocean a few hundred feet, Glory Girl calls out loudly to the crowd. "Sorry folks, but could you please give us a bit of space for a few minutes? I'll come give autographs when we are done, but we have to talk with Herald and Messenger for a bit. Thanks!"

It seems to be enough to keep them from following us out, and soon we are surrounded by water. The sun glistens off the waves and it's quite refreshing out here. A bit of a fish smell, but that's normal this time of year as dead fish are finally thawing out and starting to rot a bit. Not enough animals or insects out yet to eat them and prevent a smell.

Lady Photon once again takes the lead. "We have discussed the idea and are interested in the idea of DragonHide costumes for the entire family. Now all that is left is getting a good idea of your character, the quality of your costumes, and the cost."

"Well ma'am, I can assure you that the costumes will indeed be as high quality as you could possibly want, our own costumes should be proof of that." Herald answers with confidence.

"Hmm, it seems so. I admit I had not been all that confident given Panacea's costume is the simplest of all of ours, but I see now that you do have the capability for more." Brandish admits.

"As for the cost, Messenger here seems to have taken a shine to your Panacea. In light of his friendship with her, I've been persuaded to offer a discount to all of you. I admit it took us a while to decide upon a fair price, there was much haggling between the two of us, but I should be able to make each of your costumes for only seven hundred and fifty dollars each."

Brandish seems to frown as Herald mentions Panacea, but she avoids saying anything. Probably just being a typical mom, suspicious of boys hanging around her daughter.

"Seven hundred and fifty? That is much lower than we had expected. One twentieth the cost of a Toybox costume is quite the deal."

"You are getting a fairly good bargain, yes. Future costume orders will likely start at triple that, and that's not including the cost of putting the costume together, only the fabric. But I admit I _will_ be using your family as a bit of a showcase to prove my abilities and legitimacy to the world."

"That seems fair. At that price, we might want a few extra outfits. Thank you for bargaining so well on our behalf, Messenger."

I blush a bit without meaning to as she turns her smile my way. She sounds so genuinely grateful, it's hard not to get embarrassed. I feel bad because I only offered their family a discount because it seemed like a good way to get Panacea to stop mistrusting me, but there's no way to tell her that now.

"Your welcome." I manage to say, before inwardly berating myself. That was possibly the lamest thing I could have chosen to answer them with. Why didn't I come up with something witty? Clever? Cool? Nope, just a 'your welcome.' I definitely should be letting Herald do the talking.

Brandish chimes in with an obvious trap question. "Tell me, once you have established yourself, will you be selling costumes to anyone who has the money?"

Herald of course sees it right away, he's been expecting something like it ever since we set up this meeting. "Of course not! Rogues and Heroes only. I'll admit some villains might be clever enough to slip through the cracks and order some fabric now and then, but I will be doing my best to weed out all sinister buyers. One way I plan on accomplishing this is to avoid accepting anonymous orders or payments. It won't be perfect, but tis better than nothing."

They seem pleased with the answer, but I'm a bit skeptical. Do they really believe us, just like that? Sure, that _is_ what we actually intend to do, but anyone can say them plan to be good without actually meaning it. Anyone with a brain cell is going to know that a group like New Wave will insist upon only working with other Heroes, so of course we would claim to be all above board and legitimate.

I suppose they are either very trusting, or else one of them has the ability to detect lies. Perhaps Brandish? She seems like a suspicious one, plus she works as a lawyer. It would make sense, but then again, these _are_ the heroes who thought that they could live their lives with no secret identities. You would think that after one of them died because of that ideology, it might make them a bit more cynical.

"I trust all your concerns have been assuaged miladies?"

Laserdream lets out a giggle at this bit of dramatics. Her mom gives her a bit of a look, quelling the laughter, then she turns back to us. "Yes, I believe this has been a productive meeting. I've been informed that you will need costumes to copy from?"

"Yes, I'll need something to get the measurements off of. If you have them here with you I can take them with me and start right away, as it might take a few days to program them all in."

"We do, if you could Laserdream?"

She steps forward smoothly and hands over a box, casually brushing her hair out of her eyes and looking right at Herald approvingly. Yup, she's definitely interested in him. These guys have no subtlety at all.

"How many of each would you like to order?"

"I think that given the low price, and the chances of it increasing in the future, we will order three of each costume. That will not strain your machine will it?"

"Fear not, the initial design is the most laborious part. After that is finished, I care not whether you want three, or three hundred. Well, not as long as you have the funds for it of course." He laughs and makes significant eye contact with Laserdream.

Ooh, so he noticed. This could be interesting. She's a bit young for him, but I think she's eighteen, so it's not too far off. Plus I can totally use this for blackmail material later. It could be nothing but a bit of casual flirting of course, she looks pretty enough that I bet she flirts merely by existing. I bet if I ever liked a guy, I'd have to practically hit him over the head to get his attention. And even then he'd probably run away after a good look at me.

"I suppose we should talk about payment now?" Brandish interjects.

"Ah, yes. I'd prefer if I could get at least half of the money in advance, to pay for the materials I will use. The rest is due upon delivery, assuming you are satisfied with the final product. Just in case there are problems with the fit, given the change in materials, I'd like to provide you with one initial costume so that you can try them on and make sure that it is satisfactory. Does this seem fair?"

Lady Photon considers for a moment, nods slightly and looks to Brandish. Upon getting another nod from her sister, she looks back at us. "That seems acceptable. How shall we provide payment?"

Herald pulls out one of the new business cards we got from the Numbers Man. "We have a bank account, here is a card with the deposit details. You can have your bank send it to us directly. Since there are seven New Wave who currently lack DragonHide costumes and you want three costumes each, that should come out to fifteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty in total."

She accepts the card gracefully and glances it over. "Hmm, 'The Professionals' I see. Is this your team name?"

"Ah yes, it is. We had a hard time thinking up a good name, all we knew was that we wanted it to sound professional. Eventuality we just gave up and said, why don't we just call ourselves Professionals and be done with it?" He ends with a light chuckle.

Glory Girl comments, "Not a bad name. A bit obvious, but it's not like we can complain about that. We used to be the Brockton Bay Brigade after all."

"Sounds like we have a deal. I look forward to seeing the final product." Lady Photon carefully tucks the card into a hidden pocket.

"Well if our business is concluded, I believe you promised that crowd autographs dear. Best get that done fast if you don't want to miss lunch." Brandish smiles fondly at Glory Girl, the first smile I've seen on her this entire time.

"Yes mom." Comes the long suffering cry of a teenager.

Laserdream turns to her mom with a brilliant smile and asks, "Hey mom, I have a bit of time since we don't have lunch plans. Can I stay behind and escort Herald a bit of the way to wherever he's going? Just until he's out of the crowd? We don't want the costumes to get stolen before he can copy them."

Giving her daughter a knowing look, she gives in gracefully. "Very well, but be home in time for supper and don't forget to patrol for an hour or two before you come home."

"Yes mom!" She chirps much more cheerfully than Glory Girl.

Lady Photon lets out a soft chuckle and flies off speedily into the blue sky, Brandish following her. Glory Girl gives Laserdream a bit of a wave and a wink, before flying down to the crowd at the end of the pier.

I look at Herald, and raise one eyebrow at him. "Shall I?"

"If you would be so kind." He hand over the box and I send off another self into the sky, on it's way to the lab.

I decide to be nice yet evil, and see what happens. Picking my words carefully, I ask Laserdream, "An escort is not actually needed, but perhaps you would be willing to show Herald the finer points of patrolling? The information could be very useful for us later, as we wish to help curb crime in this city."

She looks pleased at the suggestion, "Oh, of course. There is lot's you should know about how to patrol. It's not actually about catching criminals, it's more about being present to deter crime, since they won't risk it in areas that hero's are very active. Prevention is key! But you don't want to come along? It's fine, really, the more the merrier!"

She sounds sincere, but I don't really want to hang around all day playing chaperone. If any useful information comes up, I'm sure Herald will pass it along. In the meantime, him having more ties to heroes is only bound to make him less likely to go back to a life of crime. Cynical perhaps, but they did do a lot of damage over the years. Best to make sure he won't relapse.

"No thank you. Perhaps some other time."

"Alrighty then! You have fun!"

I nod at her and dissolve that self to make it look like I teleported away. I still have lot's of work to do anyways. I have to start practicing with my new stun baton, and study more for school. I've gotten used to the new costume and the wing cape, but I still have to fill the straps and pockets with useful items. That means combing over all the thrift shops in the city, one by one. I've never been a big fan of shopping, even if it's for a good cause.

Then there is spending hours helping Leet 'unbuild' things, along with my daily morning workouts. Spending time with dad so he isn't suspicious of me is also a priority, since I can't afford to be grounded again. Oh and did I mention yet more research on capes and crime? I have to know the best ways to fix things to be able to make a difference.

Ugh, so much to do.

* * *

Finally, March 18th is here and I'm about to learn more about the 'Movement' group. When we researched the UTC thing, it ended up referring to some kind of 'Coordinated Universal Time'. We have way too many time keeping methods on this planet. GMT, UT, UT1, and now this UTC thing. Confusing!

But in the end we figured out that given the info I had Dom write down, the secret meeting is actually taking place at 11:53 PM on March eighteen. At least, that's the time it is over here in Brockton Bay. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities for this meeting. So are Dom and Mark, even if they can't come with me.

The moon is full and overhead, the night sky sprinkled with stars and a rare cloud. Originally I had been dreading trying to teleport leapfrog style across half the world in an attempt to find a tiny island, but we managed to come up with a fantastic, if a bit painful solution after much brainstorming. We got lucky, the moon would be in the right position for this trick tonight.

We figured out that while we can't reliably find a random tiny island, we _can_ reliably find the moon meeting site. At least _some_ part of their meeting must take place on the moon, given the chairs and pamphlets up there. I'll just cut out the middle man and wait until I'm sure the meeting is about to start, go to the moon, and see if they come to me. Much easier than trying to hunt them down.

I look at the clock again, and see that it's finally turned 11:50 PM. "Finally! Ok, time to go guys."

"Yeah, 'Operation Moon Mega Madness Monkey' is a go!"

Herald shakes his head and sighs while I roll my eyes at Dom.

"Alright, good luck Messenger. Stay safe, ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. You sure you won't be too bored up here with nothing but my lame commentary? You can still go back into the lab where its nice and warm."

"Nah, solving this mystery is _way_ more interesting than supervising the fabber as it makes the last of New Waves costumes. Plus it's nice out. Who knows, we might get lucky and spot a meteor shower."

"Yeah, what he said. Plus I'm out of things to do anyways. I spent the last of the build budget, so until we get paid the rest of the money from the costumes I got dick-all to do. I don't even have money to buy new video games, so I'm _super_ bored. Normally I'd go rob someplace and fix that problem, but I can't exactly do that anymore, can I?" Dom whines.

"Sorry, but not sorry? We can try to kill the boredom and hang out tomorrow, hopefully before you turn back to a life of crime out of desperation. After I go deliver the costumes and hang out with Panacea, I should have the weekend mostly free for fun? Well, aside from training."

I bend down again to the telescope and look through it at the moon. As it's craggy white surface fills my vision, I exhale as much as I can before I send out another self. Once in space I send out a rapid series of cascades, going towards the moon as fast as I can. No stopping to sight-see this time, I'm on a fact finding mission.

After what seems like a remarkably short time, I finally see the long shadow of the obelisk. I aim for the base of it and quickly reach the meeting site. No one seems to be here, which is both disappointing, yet also exciting.

"I'm here guys. No people at the site yet, so I'll settle down and wait for them."

I decide that I'll sit on the table for now, since I don't want to be presumptuous and sit on a chair. Especially since they might teleport near their seats, and this is the one place I can be sure I don't have to worry about them trying to appear in.

It would be rude to cause their teleportation abilities to fail because of an unexpected person invading their space. I have no clue how their powers work, but better safe than sorry. A few long minutes go by as I switch back and forth from sitting on one side of the table to the other. It's not very sturdy, but my own light frame combined with the low gravity means I don't think it is in any danger of collapsing any time soon.

Left side, right side, left side, right side. Over and over I trade locations with myself, killing time. Eventually I glance at my watch with both of my selves, bored. "This is kind of boring. It's almost midnight and no people yet. Do you think we got the time wrong?"

"Hmm, it _is_ possible that there is a code within the paper that would tell a true member of the group the real time. Too bad we couldn't actually get our hands on the paper itself."

"It's a fucking meeting right? People always show up late, and it takes a while to get started. I'd give it a few more minutes before I call it quits."

"Ok, fair enough. Let's give it a bit longer before we call it quits. Maybe we will get lucky and the next random location is somewhere actually possible to find without fancy GPS tech. I can snoop again in a few days to see if there is a new set of pamphlets on the table."

Back to waiting. Who knew the moon was so boring?

All of a sudden, people! Air! I can't help but gasp as the sudden atmosphere forces itself into my air starved lungs. Standing before me are twelve capes. Each of them tenses up and stares right at me, as the noise from my strangled gasp reaches them.

"Meeting?" I sheepishly ask to try and defuse tension, holding up a pamphlet in my defense.

I sit up on the rooftop and cry out, "Holy crap that scared me, they are here! Uh, there. Er, you know what I mean. There's twelve of them, so three must be missing today. I know Strider, he's in the middle of the entire group, some chick is next to him in a skintight pink dress with white circles. Oh, wow. Legend is here. Wow, uh, I think this group is more important than we thought... This _might_ have been a bad idea guys? Or a really good one, it's hard to tell."

Dom swears and looks nervously up at the moon. I don't blame him, I'm pretty sure Legend could come down to Brockton Bay in less than thirty seconds if knew where to find us. He's probably the fastest cape alive that isn't a teleporter.

On the moon the assembled capes stare at me for a long second. Then Strider and the pink lady start to laugh, triggering laughter in half of the others.

"Well, that's the most surprising way I think we've ever met a new prospective member before." He says with what sounds like a slight British accent.

I am almost out of time with this self so I send out a fresh one, this time not sitting down on their table but standing respectfully. I decide to keep this self as Prime for now since there is air to breathe, and start bouncing around two selves on the roof instead. Huh, now that I have an undamaged nose, why am I smelling gunpowder?

"Sorry for the intrusion, but I was intrigued." I tell them with a shrug once their chuckles die down. I'm curious about that 'prospective member' bit he mentioned, and make sure to start relaying back the conversation to the guys, along with commentary and descriptions.

"I'm so, _so_ sorry, it's just _really_ funny. We've _never_ had someone wait up here on the moon for us before! Usually the rare one will see the pamphlets we leave out and find us down on the ground, but usually we invite new folk personally." Pink lady apologizes between giggles.

One guy who looks like a Case 53 steps forward. He is covered in midnight black feathers and what looks like clear crystal shards, one especially large and curved shard juts out of his face like the beak of a bird. "Hey, don't mind these chuckle heads. Let me introduce ya around, eh?"

His voice is kind of odd, it sounds musical like a vibrating string of an instrument. Maybe he has no mouth and has to vibrate the crystals to talk? "I'm the cool, suave and utterly amazing high-flier Icarus. Telekinesis and flight are my specialty. Blue boy over there is the world famous teleporting Strider, plus our fearless leader. Next to him is our adorable and loquacious Bubbles. She's the one responsible for this lovely air you're breathin in, although some of us don't really need it."

He starts to gesture to the rest of them in turn as he explains their name and power.

First up is the a man that everyone in the world knows, a member of the Triumvirate, one of the three most powerful capes in the entire world, and leader of the Protectorate. Legend. He's got wavy brown hair, a simple blue mask that covers his eyes, and a skintight blue bodysuit that has lightning designs crawling all over it. Exactly like all the pictures, posters, and trading cards.

Icarus instead describes him as, "Legend. No need to explain to ya what he does, but just in case ya live under a rock, he flies and shoots lasers. He's our papa bear and keeps us all on the straight an narrow."

"Papa bear?" Mark asks aloud in bemusement when I finish passing on this amusing tidbit.

"Next up is the sexy Stardust. She's got nifty changer powers an turns into a shootin star thing that hits stuff hard." He says while pointing to a woman with dark skin, a wild afro, and a bright yellow costume that has black stripes all over it. A yellow bandana covers her mouth like a cowboy in a western. She shoots Icarus an annoyed look at his description of her, and he hastily moves on to someone else.

"Backstep there is a real clever detective type, with a side order of teleportation. It's all object based, so don't let him touch ya stuff unless ya like him popping up outta nowhere."

This guy has a pretty casual costume, basically a long trench coat with a fancy hat, checkered scarf and simple cloth mask. It looks like he has a bunch of stuff stashed away under the coat, like one of those sketchy guys who jump out at you and try to sell you a counterfeit watch. I bet he could quickly take off the mask and tuck it under his hat to look relatively normal in a heartbeat.

"Then we got Shuffle, he teleports chunks of land around. It was real hilarious when he accidentally turned a chunk of Nevada and the Amazon into bits of da moon. Poor guy almost didn't survive his moon experiment. Ended up in Brazil, where I spotted his landscaping job an brought the poor sap in for healin."

Shuffle gives a long suffering sighs and rolls his eyes. It looks like he has a rather interesting costume. It looks like detailed maps of all parts of the world cover him from head to toe. His costume has lots of layers and folds that seem to cover a lot of real estate, literally. If his power is as random as Icarus implies, then he probably needs them just to figure out where the heck he lands when he uses his power.

"Next we have the bold and brave Ladon. She's very good at what she does an supports us behind the scenes. Oh an she can do some kinda Stranger hiding stuff, keeps us safe from being spied on."

Ladon is a woman with steel grey hair in a bun and a stern disposition. Her costume is a simple black robe with a red fist on the front, and a black leather mask hiding her entire face behind a smooth, featureless oval.

Icarus continues, "Then we have the lovely and intelligent Sifara, she can do an interestin anchoring effect on people and objects. Real useful and lets her tag along with other Movers."

This cape is an Indian woman with a simple sari of blue and yellow, long braided black hair that reaches her knees, and a simple butterfly mask that covers her face entirely. She gives me a bit of a shrug when named, but her posture tells me that she's bored with all these introductions.

"Oh and the gorgeous Citrine, we must not forget about this enchantress. She has a subtle power, but it lets her interfere with other powers and physics itself if need be."

The woman in a golden evening gown nods at me politely, light glinting off the yellow gems embedded in her intricate mask. I'd bet my right arm that they are her namesake gemstone. She looks incredibly rich and very pretty.

"Last but not least is the lovable scamp, Xiaoshi and his fierce brother Wudao. Xi can generate chaos and bad luck, Wu is able to alter and merge reality for a short while."

Two young looking Asian men have colorful costumes that seem to be made of different colours, scraps of fabric, and textures. I notice that many of the oddly shaped bits of cloth have blood on them, and many seem to be made of spandex. I suddenly realize that they are scraps of costumes from people they have fought. I really hope that they have only been taking trophies from people they beat-up, but given the blood, I suspect that it might signify kills. Despite their youth, they look hard, with lean muscle and menacing postures.

"So! What's up with ya newbie?" Icarus asks me after the introductions are over.

I figure that there is no harm in being straightforward with them. I want to know more and possibly even join them, if this group is what I think it is.

"Messenger." I introduce myself with a short bow. "I teleport, and can leave behind useful afterimages. I hope my presence here is not a problem?"

I demonstrate my powers by teleporting a bit to the side and leaving a self behind. I try to poke myself in the face with the new self Prime, while batting away my finger with my other self to prevent it. Then I let it dissolve and face the group once more.

"No, no problem. Anyone with the drive to come here to the moon, to witness history, is welcome. The desire to explore, to reach out beyond the limits, to leave your mark, it is what sets us apart. People with the ability to come here under their own power are useful, not to mention some type of secondary power that allowed you survive until we arrived..." Legend raises an eyebrow at me as he muses aloud.

Bubbles interjects happily, "Well, you found us and saw the pamphlets. What do you think? Want to help us save the world from a total collapse of civilization?"

"Gee, way to leap right in there Bubbles." Icarus says sarcastically while floating over to sit on a chair. I'm not sure why he'd want to sit down when he can probably suspend himself in the air. I look closer and realize that nope, I was wrong. He's sitting maybe an inch or two off the chair. Sneaky guy this Icarus.

I tentatively ask them, "Civilization? I thought you guys might be doing something important, but I assumed from the obelisk and map that it was against the Endbringers?"

"Oh, yes well them too, but this particular group is more about the behind the scenes stuff! We're the movers and shakers who try to make sure it all doesn't fall to pieces. People who are lucky enough to come here on their own or are brought by someone else, we have a common bond! We've all seen that _glorious_ sight up above us and realized that we all have to fight together to save Gods creation. The entire _world_ depends on us because we are the only ones who even realize the _danger_!" She strikes a silly, semi-heroic pose, before giggling and skipping over to a seat in the circle.

"She is correct." Citrine adds. "Far too many capes are shortsighted, only thinking what is best for them or for the people close to them. Only a few have the vision and discipline necessary to see the larger picture. To put aside differences for such an important goal. We and those who are allied with us are the few who will do whatever is needed for humanity to survive."

Citrine seems to prefer to stand beside her chair, but most of the rest of the group move to sit down. I guess it might be hard to sit in that gown. You'd think she would have picked a costume more practical for fighting in. Strider and Backstep take seats at the table, they must be in charge of this group. I had expected Legend to be in charge, but I suppose that he is already in charge of a lot of things, he must not have the time to lead another group.

I think carefully about what they have told me so far, as I also finish telling Dom and Mark about everything. Given that Legend himself is a part of this, I don't have much reason to doubt them when they claim to be working for the good of all people. It's a pretty diverse bunch and while I don't imagine I'd be of much help, I can't stand by and do nothing if it might mean the end of the world.

Dom swears softly under his breath and mutters, "I don't like the sound of this. I don't think I'd do very well fighting zombies or space aliens or whatever kind of apocalypse is coming."

"Yeah, as self-centered as we are, it's kinda hard to indulge in luxuries if there is nothing left to enjoy having. We should probably help them? Ugh, Messenger. You've really corrupted us with this whole 'heroism' thing. Are you _sure_ you don't have a Master power too?" Mark teases me to lighten the mood, but I can tell he's quite worried by this slowly unfolding bad news.

I decide that I have my answer. Both for me, and for my team of misfits. "I consider myself a hero and if there is a threat to humanity, I would wish to help fight it. I'm not sure what I could possibly do, but I'm willing to try."

Ladon nods in approval, speaking with a thickly accented and broken English.

"Good, you have fight. But do you have ability to see more than label of good and bad? Some of us bad people, we kill and steal. We have bad allies who break law, sometimes we help do bad things. All is fair when fighting doom, but if you can't? You leave now, before you learn more. Never return to moon or speak of us, or is your death. Fair?"

I frown under my mask, but am forced to agree. If this 'doom' is really that bad, then underhanded tactics might be the only way to stop it.

"That is fair. I can accept it, but only if it is truly necessary. I hope you do not expect me to do anything I am not comfortable with?" I ask them politely, trying to keep my suspicion out of my voice.

Shuffle speaks up with a southern drawl. "Naw, you are only asked to do what you can. There's plenty of underhanded scoundrels like Icarus around willing to do the dirty work, so you don't have to worry bout it if it aint to your taste. I don't do killin, but I am willin to teleport troublemakers out of town so they's gotta walk back. Usually does the trick. But most of our work ain't death, it's theft. Economics stuff mostly. Heaps more boring than you're likely thinkin. We do alota coordinatin."

"Uh, what exactly is the nature of this impending apocalypse?" I ask confused. That makes no sense at all. Economics?

In comes the ever enthusiastic Bubbles to the rescue. "Oh! Right, see there are some really smart Thinkers and people who noticed a problem a while back. They managed to figure out that because of all the Endbringer attacks, S-class threats popping up and stuff, that eventually the entire world will _collapse_! Civilization will be kaput and at the very least, we'll be reduced to tiny bands of roving nomads. _Very_ bad stuff. And if we don't do anything about it, it will happen only _thirty years_ from now!"

Icarus tilts his chair back way further than it could ever possibly balance, but I know he is using his power more. He's kind of a show-off, but I like him a bit anyways. Even if Shuffle seems to think he's a scoundrel. From what Ladon said, I get the feeling that many of these guys might end up being what I'd call a 'villain', but if they are willing to work to save the world? I figure it's like the Endbringer Truce, but long term. Ignore the minor evil to focus on the big stuff? I can do that. I did it with Uber and Leet and for less reason too.

"Now thirty years away don't seem like much of a problem right? But it's sooner than you'd think kid. Luckily, this group has been around for almost a whole decade now, and we've been pushing back the deadline for that entire time. If we hadn't been, then that means things would be collapsing around your ears by the time you had kids of your own. So good news is that as long as we keep workin on it, the world aint gonna end. Admittedly it won't get better until we can figure out how to _kill_ them dammed things, but at least it won't get worse." Backstep adds.

I make a leap of logic and ask, "Do you fix cities?" I think back to the map with green dots on it. That would make sense, given the data. The only city that ever fully recovered from an Endbringer attack was New York, so it fits.

"Indeedy we do, and more too! One thing we do is monitor and babysit a group of smarty pants bad guys called the _Elite_. They identify people and companies who have been hoarding wealth clogging up the economy's gears, then find ways to steal it _all_. We help them when they need it, but only because they behave and don't hoard the money themselves. Instead they spend it all on stuff. They probably know more about the impending doom deadline than we do, so they know that _not_ helping will make them lose their nice toys faster. Can't live in sinful luxury if there's no nice things to buy!"

"You know, I'm getting the feeling that Bubbles might be a bit religious." I comment to the guys at home.

"Sounds like it. We should look all these guys up once we get back inside, find out more about them."

"Ooh, yeah, that'll kill some time tonight and tomorrow. I call dibs!"

Legend frowns slightly, "It is distasteful to be helping such thieves, but it is a good way to revitalize a dying city and create jobs. This in turn lowers the crime rate, saving lives. The Elite use most of the funds they liberate to set up new businesses in certain target cities we are attempting to improve. We regretfully remove the ones who do not understand the rules, but few attempt to break them."

Icarus adds, "Heh, amusingly enough, they seem to have adapted quite well to using cash flow as a metric for success among themselves, instead of the more normal 'piles of money' method. They've got status games among themselves that are very twisty and bizarre, only another Thinker would understand it. They actually form up teams and compete to see who can bring back a city from disaster the fastest. Although the teams keep changing, so no clue how they know who is on what side. We have no idea what the rules are or how they score it, let alone the prizes, but we did put our foot down about sabotaging the other cities growth. Better uses for their time and energy."

"What other projects do you pursue?" I ask curious. Surely there has to be a better, more noble way to help out?

Sifara finally speaks up in slightly accented, soft voice. "We also eliminate S-class threats, as well as capes with subtle and dark powers that threaten the worlds stability. While many of us who find our way to the moon are not powerful enough ourselves to destroy the truly horrible beings, we have allies we can call upon, and clever strategies that may allow us to win. Time may not be on our side, but we are organized and well informed. Matching up the correct cape to a foe ensures success. We also fight Endbringers, and encourage others to contribute in some way to the struggle."

"Yupparoony! Oh and we also go around looking for opportunities to give other cities little economic boosts here and there, minor jobs that will help long term. We have a little job list that Strider and Backstep make from our various sources around the world. Then anyone who has no ongoing job can look at this list and pick a few they think they can do! The jobs are often _all_ over the world, so it's useful to be able to fly or teleport."

Bubbles pauses for a breath, then continues onward as she seems to remember something.

"Oh and you don't have to do the jobs alone, you can include any teammates you might have, just don't tell them anything about us. But if you think you know of someone who would be trustworthy and have similar ideals as the rest of us, you can nominate them to join and we'll check them out! That's the normal way to join, but you got lucky since you found us all on your own. If they pass a quick security check, they can know all about the Movement and help out with more sensitive missions. Only one person per team can come to the moon meetings to save on time and space, so once your whole team is accepted you should send whoever seems best. Until then, you can't tell them _anything_ about us or else it will go very badly for you." She ends sternly.

Uh-oh, this could be a problem. The guys look very alarmed at this news and I agree with them wholeheartedly. I quickly rack my brain for a nice formal way to tell these powerful capes, 'sorry but too late'.

"My apologies, but I did not know that I was supposed to exclude my team. I have been informing them of all of my lunar explorations and unfortunately they have been listening in to all of this. I hope this will not cause complications?"

That little bomb causes quite a bit of silence among the group. I can't help but cringe as it extends longer and longer. Legend finally breaks the silence after sharing a significant glance with Strider.

"Normally we try to be more cautious of who we admit, barring the few brave explorers who come here on their own. This group was formed by such explorers, and we try to be lenient with everyone who shares our calling. Since you did not know, we will be as forgiving as is possible, but I hope you understand that we cannot risk this group's safety. There are some who would try to destroy us if they knew about us. If your teammates cannot prove trustworthy, we will have to take measures to ensure that they cannot be a threat to us."

I gulp involuntarily. He's trying to be nice, but the steel underneath his voice leaves no room for arguments.

"What now?" I force myself to ask.

Strider stands up and stretches a bit. "Now? Now you go home and introduce your team to Backstep and I. A few capes will meet with you and your teammates in the coming week, speak with you, and determine the risk you pose. You will know our decision shortly after. I can explain more about the Movement once this little problem is solved. So where are you located kid?"

"Brockton Bay."

"More specific if you can? I can work off a street address."

I'm not terribly happy about giving away the location of the secret lab, not that it matters much given the power level and connections the Movement seems to have. Still, I'm pretty sure that we will pass their tests and be admitted. I don't think Dom and Mark are the betraying type, and given that the Movement seems to be endorsing theft and occasional, 'elimination' of threats, perhaps their history as Uber & Leet won't be a problem. I hope not, because I don't think our flimsy cover will withstand proper scrutiny.

I tell Strider the address reluctantly, while warning the guys about the incoming guests. Backstep stands up and nods slightly.

Then we are suddenly standing on the rooftop. At the same instant that we arrive, I dismiss the two selves bouncing around. Not much point in keeping them around, and at least this might keep them questioning how my teammates were able to hear anything. Have to try to keep _some_ secrets. As my eyes slowly adjust to the darkness of the night, I see Backstep move forward.

"Hello gents. Just need a few hairs from the three of you please. I assume you know what's going on?"

"Yeah, but what do you need the hair for?" Mark asks suspiciously.

"Merely a bit of insurance. Honestly, I think that as long as you chaps are sensible, you should have no problems with getting accepted into the group. We're all a bunch of softies really, even the Hong Kong brothers tend to be a bit too noble minded to be truly vicious. We rarely have problems with vetting people, most tend to not want to see the world end, no matter how selfish they are. Now, hair please?"

We reluctantly pull out a few hairs and hand them over. I make sure to break mine a few times to hide the length before I hand it over, as futile as I'm sure my deception is.

"Thank-you and have a lovely evening." Backstep nods pleasantly to us and disappears with Strider, presumably back to the moon.

"Well _Fuck_." Dom finally lets out.

I can only wordlessly agree. I don't think we are in trouble, but we certainly have learned a _lot_ tonight.

* * *

AN: So, can you name the various groups that are a part of this secret society? You get an imaginary point for each one you name! :D

And no Cauldron doesn't count, that one is obvious. :P  
After all, they don't want the world to end, and need to help prop up civilization somehow! (Numbers Man obviously does some subtle stuff, but he can't use a laptop to steal gold bars hidden in some duty vault, and is far too busy to do it himself.)

Edit2: Upped the cost of the costume a bit, since it ended up being too low, and changed the end of the world deadline to match better with the original story estimates by Cauldron.


	21. Interlude 4 (Thomas)

Coil held firmly to the philosophy that one couldn't be too paranoid. Every moment of every day was a delicate balancing act, anticipating any number of unseen threats from every possible angle, whether he was speaking with his subordinates or simply rising to meet the day.

In one reality, he was safely ensconced in his underground base, costumed, with no less than twenty armed soldiers between himself and the multiple sets of heavy metal doors. He had spent his night reading, following the news and checking his stocks. His location was known only to those who worked for him, individuals paid well enough that even if they did have reason to attack him, their 'coworkers' would have incentive to stop them.

Second reality: He was waking up in an ordinary, slightly rundown home in the southwest end of the city. He prepared and ate his breakfast, then stepped outside in his bathrobe to pick up the paper and the mail, pausing to wave to the neighbors as they led their two girls out of the house.

He headed back inside, showered, then dressed in a button-up shirt, khakis and a silk tie. He got in his four-year old prius and headed into the city. To all appearances, he was an ordinary man leaving for work. His identity, fabricated, was complete, a real job at a real company, records going back ten years in health, taxes, dentistry, house payments and more.

The soldier that met him was known to the other soldiers as Creep. No captain would have the man in their squad, his predilections made him unemployable in the public sector, and the fact that Coil was the sole person who could and would provide him with the 'payment' he craved makes Creep as loyal as men can get.

Everyone had a hook, a vice or something they needed on a primal, desperate level. Sometimes that need needed to be created, or nurtured, so it could later be hand fed. Those people who were driven by such things, carried that craving for something especially close to the surface, were among Coil's favorite people, coming in a very close second to people who were _useful_.

Wealth would have to suffice for anyone and everyone else.

Creep remained the one individual that had the opportunity to discover Coil with the mask off, so it was worth buying his loyalty. The man waited in the front seat of the white van, eyes forward, until he heard the three knocks on the back door of the vehicle. He pressed a button, opening the door to allow Coil to enter.

Once inside the back of the van, hidden from Creep's view by a barrier between the seats, Coil removed his clothes, folding them neatly. He donned his costume, his second skin. A zipper was hidden in the image of the long white snake that weaved up around the body of the costume to the head. He drew it together around himself, tucked the metal tab of the zipper into a flap at his ankle. The fabric of the costume allowed him to see and breathe through it, but was an opaque black-gray to outside observers in all but the brightest light.

Creep directed the vehicle down the ramp and into the parking garage. He stayed behind with the van as Coil departed.

Coil entered a doorway in the lowest, most secluded corner of the parking garage, entering a room with an electrical system behind a metal cage. Opening the door to step into the cage, passing around behind the electrical box and passing through the concealed doorway there, he reached the heavy vault door that marked the entrance to his underground base.

Back in the other reality, he stood from his computer and made a phone call.

"Yeah?" A surly and young female voice answers.

"How are you finding your new accommodations? I trust they are suitable?"

"They're not complete shit." She snarls.

Ignoring a twinge of dislike at her attitude, he continues smoothly. "You will be allowed to contact your family once you have succeeded on your first mission. If you fail, things might get _unpleasant_ for them."

"Fuck them, and fuck you. I couldn't care less for my _family_. If you think they will be a good lever to make me do your bidding, you thought wrong. They are weak. Worthless. You need to give me something better than that. You promised me power, and freedom. No more PRT rules, or getting sent to another city to do shit jobs. So far you aren't impressing me."

Coil nods to himself with this confirmation. He had been fairly sure that her family was a weak hold on her, and he doubted she was bluffing. His other discarded interactions with her all had the same theme. Time to get the last bit of information needed, before the _real_ offer is made.

"Tell me little Shadow, of all the gangs in this city, who would you like to take down first? Who do you want to end? I have the ability to give you exactly the information you need to do it, to play with them to your hearts content. But I'm curious as to who you'd prefer to fight."

"Don't fucking call me that. I'm Shadow Stalker, not your _little_ anything. And as for who I want to kill? Grue. That asshole needs to die."

"Pick again. An actual gang this time and not one individual, if you can be bothered to listen to instructions."

"Hah, you make big promises, spring me free from the Protectorate, and now you can't even get me one little cape? What makes you think that you'd be even able to take out a single Merchant, let along the bigger players like the Empire?"

"Indulge me, assume that I have a power that all but guarantees it."

"Well if you _were_ at all competent and useful, then I suppose I'd like to get rid of the Nazi scum first. But I'm starting to get the idea that you're fucking useless to me. Thanks for freeing me and all, but I think I'm gonna go take my chances on my own. I'm done with this hellhole city, and with you. Have fun loser!"

With a sigh of disgust at the child's rudeness, he collapsed the world where he had stayed up all night, studying the news, following international business trends, tracking the details on his troops' most minor operations – he helped ensure the success of the major ones with his power. The reality swiftly faded, leaving only the world where he had a full night's sleep, ate a hearty breakfast, and drove to the base with Creep. Only the memories and knowledge remained.

Standing before his employees and soldiers, he divided realities once more, leaving only a heartbeat between the erasure of one existence and the creation of another.

He often wondered if he really was creating the realities, or if it was solely in his perception, foretelling futures to the extent that they hinged on his actions. He'd asked his Tattletale, in a long ago discarded timeline, and she hadn't had an answer for him.

He hated these moments. These were the times when he was most vulnerable, when he'd just started a fresh use of his power, his selves so close to one another. It was sadly inevitable, unless he found a way to expand to a third world. Though he knew the chance of danger was minuscule, he still made efforts to distance the two worlds as much as possible.

The first reality: "Captains, as you were. I will review your progress report on the Alcott acquisition later, have it on my desk by noon. I have business to attend to."

The other: "I wish to survey the base. Captains, as you were."

Two groups traveling in separate directions. One of his selves traveled down the metal staircase to the lower level, the other moving in the other direction, across the metal walkway, the two employees hurrying to keep up with his long strides.

He eyed the base as it was developing. The massive quantities of crates and boxes were being unpacked, bunk beds for soldiers on call, a fully equipped medical bay, stocks and facilities for the kitchens, innumerable weapons. It was taking shape, right angles and neatly organized stacks of boxes everywhere.

He owned the company that had built the underground shelters in Brockton Bay and neighboring cities. Hiding the details on his base in construction was a matter of intercepting information at the right time and place, paying with his own money rather than the city's, controlling what was reported and to whom.

His other self reaches his office and pulls out his phone. Time for another attempt with his newest acquisition.

"Yeah?" A surly and young female voice answers.

"I'd like you to make up a list of everything you want your new accommodations to have. I understand it is lacking in luxuries at the moment, but that will quickly be fixed."

"Good. This place is pretty shit."

"Now, I recall that I had promised you freedom from the Protectorate in exchange for listening to my job offer. I have held up my end, you are no longer on a secure transport to go guard a Simurgh tainted area for the rest of your life. I'd like to offer you a chance to do what you originally were meant to do, before the Wards forced you to join them. You were meant to take out the scum of this city, and I have the resources to allow to you do do so unimpeded. We will be starting with the Empire."

"Huh, now that's what I like to hear. Right to the point. Only problem is, what the heck makes you think that I'd be able to take any of them out on my own? I'm not suicidal, or an idiot."

"You underestimate my resources. I will be able to tell you exactly where and when to strike, with little risk to yourself. Unlike the Protectorate, I won't tell you to play it safe, or avoid lethal force. I will simply give you the information and let you decide how to best accomplish the goal."

"Sounds good, if you are telling the truth at all. But what's in it for me?"

"Aside from the pleasure of destroying a few gangs? Money, power, freedom. I'll pay you well for every goal you achieve, and at any time, you can decline a request with no penalty. I will use my resources to keep you free from the Protectorate, free from boring jobs and endless patrolling with no action. No family telling you to go to school, to behave, to hide your talents. I don't think you'll ever get an offer as good as mine."

"Heh, you must be desperate to get a cape on your team to help you deal with your rivals. I've barely heard of you, but I'm pretty sure you don't have much going for you aside from lots of money. Sure, for now I'll do your dirty work, as long as you live up to your hype. But first I want another identity set up, ready and waiting for me in another city. And something that will let me go out in public without anyone from the Wards noticing me if I walk by them in the mall. I won't do a single job for you until I have my exit plan in place and the ability to move around the city freely. Got it? Otherwise no deal."

"Of course. I will have it ready for you shortly. Until then, enjoy your new home and make that list of what you need."

Closing the phone, Coil considers this result. It had taken painstaking research and many tries to get a full profile of the girl, and even now, his hold on her was tenuous. The arrogant brat didn't even seem to realize that he could have her killed at any time if she went rogue. But having an independent cape not tied to a gang will be useful for weakening the E88. They won't be able to fight back effectively against a target as elusive as Shadow Stalker. Not as long as he was sheltering her.

Perhaps he should move ahead with the plan to implant her with a control device. It would certainly solve her attitude problem, if she knew that her power could be disabled at any time he chose. After all, it's not often that you get a cape with such an exploitable weakness. Her little problem with electricity would be his gain, thanks to the inside information stolen from the PRT's own records.

He didn't like interacting with people, especially not important subordinates such as the Undersiders, without the ability to create or banish the reality if the discussion didn't go his way. Here, he was safe. His other self was now speaking with his Captains, giving orders on movements, individuals to watch out for, informed by the night he had spent tracking the deployments and patrol patterns of the Protectorate and Wards.

He would have his other self repeat the same conversation with Shadow Stalker later, with a small variation to tweak the results a bit more favorably. Implying that he already had a cape on his team, or telling her that he himself had power, should prevent the girls ego from becoming quite as large. Her demands were frankly, ridiculous. Hopefully it will also induce a bit of caution or respect in the girl.

No such thing as being too paranoid, after all.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the short interlude chapter, and for how long it took to get it out. Since life is consistently a bit busy for me now, you guys should probably not expect the same rate of updates as before. Once or twice a month is probably going to be the going rate until later. Sorry!

Reviews are as always, appreciated, loved and eaten to fuel my spidery fingers. And once again, apologies for the delay. I have big plans for this story, so I don't plan on abandoning it anytime soon. :D


	22. Dispatch 3-1

Streetlights glow dimly off in the distance, while the low sound of heavy trucks on the nearby freeway is a comforting rumble. Moonlight doesn't reach the maze of streets below me, but I'm not too worried. It will be pretty easy to tell when it's time to act.

Watching, waiting, I've been sitting on this uncomfortable rooftop for what seems like hours, with only a few brief errands to break-up the monotony. At least being on the edge of the city affords me a better view of the night sky, the stars spread out above me in all their glory. Fitting, given than it was the 'Movement' who told my team about the location of the warehouse we are currently robbing.

I spot a light below, and sub-vocalize into my comm. "Spotted light below. If it's not you guys coming out, then be advised that there might be a security guard near the exit."

"Roger that. We are exiting the building now, so it's just us."

I teleport a bit closer and see two figures outlined with thick glowing lines, each with a large dark duffel bag in one hand, and a glowing disk of light in the other. Even _I've_ heard about the Tron game, and while I don't understand the appeal of it, it certainly makes for a noticeable costume. Perfect for our needs tonight.

Since I helped to make the costumes, I know that the cool light effect is actually just some dismantled Christmas lights that the guys had 'acquired' from a few homes in a rich neighborhood. I disapproved of it, but they had been stolen a few months ago, just after Christmas, so a bit too long ago for me to take them to task for it.

"I have eyes on you two, and the area looks clear. I'll keep on lookout for now, until you get to the bike."

"Sounds good."

"I still can't believe that they kept all my fucking precious equipment and gear in some crappy warehouse. Been searching all over the world for signs of where they took it, and the whole time it was here. This is Tinker Tech shit, it's fucking gold! And they stored it like trash they can't get rid of."

With a long suffering tone, Herald replies, "Well to be fair dude, your stuff has a noticeable tendency to explode, especially when being dismantled. I imagine that after the first few incidents, the scientists didn't want to risk it, and moved on to studying less riskier confiscated Tinker Tech."

"They could have at least have had the decency to move it to another city in an attempt to keep it away from us. This was practically asking for us to steal it back!"

I can't help but chuckle at that and interrupt with, "Except for the fact that it took Legend himself using his Protectorate insider info to find the location for us. All _you_ had were false trails leading to various cities across the continent. You're just lucky that they took pity on us after they figured out who my teammates were, and suggested that we get some of your gear back to be able to be more 'effective' for future missions."

"Hey, we don't need any fucking pity from anyone. We're gonna be doing their dirty work, saving the world by stealing shit. They had _better_ help us out in exchange, else they are grade A dicks of the highest caliber."

Herald makes placating gestures with his hands as he heads right toward a nearby dumpster. "Chill man. It's almost showtime, I need you to focus. Just remember to lean into the curves and hold on tight, I don't want to have to scrape you off the pavement. This is gonna be intense and fun stuff, and the footage will be amazing. Just focus on that."

Uber uncovers and wheels out a motorcycle that had been hidden behind the trash piled up around the dumpster, as Leet sighs heavily and moves on to another topic.

"Although that reminds me, I wish the stupid feds would go home already! Always hanging around, investigating that illegal hotel casino place. Stopping us from finishing the epic final showdown of the Ninja Gaiden movie. Did you know, not a single other rooftop in the city matches that one? We can't even _think_ about using someplace else, not if we want this to be authentically true to the previous scenes. I wish now that I'd have picked someplace a little less unique for the scene."

I try to reassure him, "Hey don't worry, we'll finish it soon enough. Anyways, I'm ready when you guys are."

In response, Uber flicks a switch and the motorcycle springs to life, with lines of light running down its side and in a circle on the side of each wheel. In the dark, it almost looks like suspended bars of light hovering midair, not a stolen motorcycle that's been spray painted black and had lights attached to it.

I can almost tell the exact moment when he starts using his power to become an expert, as his posture changes slightly and he smoothly swings himself onto the bike and pats the seat behind him. Leet climbs on with his usual awkward non-grace, passing Uber his disk of light and receiving the second bag of loot in exchange.

Uber revs the motor and starts to putter forward a bit, but I teleport before them before they can pick up any speed.

I call out to them, making sure to speak loudly so the flying snitch and the security cameras can catch it. "Hold it right there thieves! Surely you didn't think you could wander around in glowing costumes at night and not get spotted did you?"

"Player three has entered the game!" Uber booms out in a startlingly robotic voice.

"Nope, not playing along. But if you don't come quietly, I _will_ be forced to take you down. You can't outrun me, and my team is getting closer every second. Give up before you embarrass yourselves or one of you gets hurt."

Leet sneers at me and flips me the bird. "New objective, lets evade player three and escape with the points!" Before I can even try to reason with them further, Uber turns his headlights on full blast, blinding me for a moment. I can hear him take off on the bike, going right around my disabled self.

I also see this from one of my rooftop lookouts and send in another self, but he easily evades that one with a tight turn down an alley as Leet quietly yelps at the sudden change of direction. Despite the narrow confines, Uber picks up even more speed, dodging bits of debris and dirt. My comm easily picks up Leet's muttered litany of "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..." As they careen around wildly.

I follow behind them, but stop sending selves right in front of them. A crash at these speeds would kill or seriously hurt them. We figure it has been enough time since the arrest of Hellhound, that my reluctance to risk killing someone moving at high speeds might have spread around a bit in the cape community. Rookie mistakes like trying to talk to villains are excusable with how new I am to the hero game, so I doubt it will make me look too bad. Can't catch every bad-guy, right? At least, that's the reasoning we plan to use if anyone questions me later.

Uber turns into a wider street and starts to make his way back into town. Wider streets give us more room to maneuver, so now we can have some high risk fun and put on a proper show for the golden snitch that follows us. Leet's whimpering into his throat mic dies down a bit, but I'm sure it will pick up again soon enough. I grin evilly behind my mask and aim my flame gauntlet just to the side of them. Warning shot time.

"Fuck!" He yelps as a ball of fire blossoms beside them.

I can hear Uber chuckle a bit over the comm as I launch fire all over the place with a few selves placed strategically along their path. Sometimes I get it on myself as the device fails catastrophically, but that's a small price to pay. Each time, they have to maneuver wildly to avoid the fireball, and I can see that the 'rip' in the leftmost loot bag is starting to go into effect. Each time they move around jerkily, Leet makes sure to drop one or two things onto the street.

Hopefully most of it survives the fall at high speeds, but we picked what would be 'lost' this way quite carefully. Most of it is junk inventions that will be irrevocably destroyed to provide further evidence of the legitimacy of this chase scene, but a few are durable items we want to use for the new hero team.

Uber tries to retaliate a few times, throwing out the spinning disk, and then subtly retracting them with a strong string tied to their middles. He misses me most of the time as it's not hard to dodge a glowing object coming at your face, but even when he does hit me, I just dissolve that self and make a new one. He quickly gives up and focuses on driving like a maniac. Hopefully it looks like they have some kind of homing technology on camera in the dark, but it's actually just a fancy yo-yo thing. It's amazing how much these two cheat, using mundane stuff to pretend to have more Tinker Tech then they actually have.

Eventually the last item in the left bag drops with a loud clunk, the largest thing in there and thus the last to go. With the shields weight removed from the bag, it signals the next phase of the plan.

Leet sounds concerned and calls out to Uber, "Half the points are already lost! We must lose player three immediately or we might lose the whole game!"

"Agreed!"

Uber makes a few turns and we continue the dance someplace deep in Merchants territory. We had been racing parallel to it for a while now, and the turns swiftly put us deep into Merchants territory. Storm drains, sewer access, buildings with plenty of broken down doors and windows, filthy alleys with nearly impassible barriers of trash and debris, plenty of holes for them to disappear into once this is done.

Uber fiddles with the two disks and then makes one final throw into the air. Each is perfectly positioned to be far apart from the other. They flash incredibly brightly, luminescent enough to actually hurt my eyes. I'm immediately blinded with every single self nearby, and I immediately stop chasing them, letting myself dwindle down to one Prime self, huddled on a rooftop and unable to see shit.

The flash was way brighter than I thought it would be, enough that I'm worried it might actually cause real damage to my eyes. It's a good thing we have plans to counter this kind of thing in the future, because it's frightening how effective it is. My major weakness, and I don't like it one bit. I actually feel vulnerable for once. No longer do I have an easy escape from any problem that I might face. I can't expand my mind, can't fight, I can't do anything. I knew this would happen, but the reality of it is more terrifying than I anticipated.

Thankfully, eventually the spots in my eyes dwindle a bit. I force myself to stop curling up in a ball on the roof, and stand up shakily.

I can only hope that they were able to make it back out of Merchant territory easily enough, given that the light will have attracted attention from miles around. I was out of commission for at least a few minutes, slowly counting the seconds until I could see anything at all. Anything could have happened in that time, although hopefully they would have let me know about it on the comm if there were any problems.

I reach up to my ear, pull out the hidden earpiece, and press a little button on it. This should switch it to the 'hero' voice channel. Complete with its own completely different style of encryption and transmission. If anyone out there does manage to hack the system and listen in, hopefully this will buy us some deniability. I'd claim that the boys are being rather paranoid, with all these fallback, plans, and deceptions within deceptions, but to be fair, they _have_ been surviving as minor villains for a few years. No doubt these layers of redundant protections keep them safe not only from Leet's own technology, but from everyone else out there who might want to mess with them.

Replacing the earpiece, I report in. "Messenger here. You there Herald?"

"Yup, still trying to play catch-up I'm afraid. I spotted a big flash of light up ahead, was that you?"

"Uber set off some kind of flash grenade, so I was completely blind for a few minutes. Lost them in this maze of buildings, and I doubt we will pick up their trail now. If they had any sense at all, they'd have turned their costumes lights off and ditched the bike."

"I don't know, they aren't exactly known for their common sense." Herald replies with a sardonic chuckle at his own expense.

"How are you doing Illuminator?" I ask, testing out Leet's new hero name on my tongue to see what it feels like in an actual situation, and not just while talking about it.

"Doing fine of course. It looks like security has noticed the breach at the warehouse and is swarming all over the place."

I'm guessing he knows this from one of the warehouse cameras, I think they fiddled with them before they left. This is good, it means the boys are almost into costume wherever they are, and ready to meet up with me and start scavenging the 'evidence' and tech that was dropped. The rightmost bag had contained their costume pieces, not stolen technology as would be assumed from anyone watching their video later.

I had already transported away the good stuff that Uber and Leet would 'keep' at the start of the theft, and swapped out that full bag with the one containing their hero gear from a spot inside where the security cameras didn't reach. Took only seconds to make the swap, and hopefully no-one would ever notice them lingering in the dead zone for long.

Then I had moved to the rooftop to play lookout, in case some other cape showed up while they made a show of gathering up the rest of the items in the bag that was to be 'lost' to us heroes.

A complicated ruse for complicated reasons, to help both the hero and villain personas equally. Kind of yin and yang that way. Balance, like riding the wave of my power. I like it, in a perverse way. I do want to be a hero and help people, but I can't deny the thrill of planning out and executing a heist. There is something nice about having a team that operates like a well oiled machine, everyone doing their part and getting the timing down perfectly, with layer upon layer of plans.

I teleport back to the dropped shield, Herald really wanted that item in particular. Some of the blue paint is scraped off from the fall, but the silvery metal underneath is perfectly smooth and undamaged. I imagine this will come in handy for protecting him in future fights, he can't just ignore hits like I can. I'm trying to remember what game the symbol is from, I think someone named Zelda uses the shield?

Hefting the shield, I try to swing it around experimentally and grimace at the weight of it. Too heavy for me to use, that's for sure. Feels like a solid lump of metal. Oh well, it doesn't matter who used it in the game. It's Herald's shield now.

I teleport over to the next dropped item a few blocks away, but it's just a small pile of crushed crystals. "I found a shield that they dropped on the ground, it seems like it might be useful for us so I've grabbed it. Now I'm looking at some damaged crystals. Either of you interested in them?"

"Nah, that's stuffs cra-oof." I think Herald just elbowed Illuminator. He's supposed to cut out the swearing when playing hero, but I doubt he'll manage it anytime soon.

I roll my eyes at their antics and keep teleporting onward. "I'll keep looking for more useful stuff then. Might as well get _something_ for our troubles."

Pile of broken electrical components and wires attached to an intact flat red crystal? Grab.

Shredded fabric wrapped around moldy rotting sludge? Leave it, ew.

Humming circular thing? Take it. Clearly something is still working inside.

Another mess of wires and a leaking container of acid that seems to be eating away at the plastic coating of the wires? Definitely don't touch that one.

Greenish black device spitting sparks and warming up? Probably gonna explode soon, I'll just dump it in a nearby deep puddle of water to help contain it and prevent a fire.

Oh, ew... It's a puddle of piss, not water. The smell of steamy piss is not fun and I move away fast.

Long grey tube that has something inside rattle when I lift it? Maybe broken, maybe good. I'm not sure what it's supposed to do, so I take it.

Herald finally interrupts me, "Hey Messenger, I'm almost there, where are you currently?"

I teleport to the ends of the street to look at some signs and rattle off my address. "Middle of Wind Drive, near Kvothe Lane."

"I got it. Herald, that means you need to take a left, go three blocks, then a right and he'll be there up ahead."

Looks like Illuminator has found a safe location to pull out his laptop and start providing intel for us.

Less than a minute later, a soft hum can be heard and Herald flies down to land beside me. He's changed costumes as fast as he could, and looks very intimidating now with his wings added on to his costume. Sculpted and smooth silvery aluminum sections protect the gravity manipulators. The main one sits between his shoulder blades, and one redundant one is below that at the small of his back.

Since wearing a silvery metal backpack isn't very cool looking, the boys had decided to embellish a bit with some cheap aluminum wings in a teardrop shape added on to the sides and gracefully rising up over his head. I think its a bit overdone really, not practical or useful at all, but they insisted on it, so it's their funeral. The only advantage to it that I can see is if someone thinks the wings provide the lift, they might try to shoot them off instead of shooting Herald in the back.

They way Illuminator has planned it, is that Herald will use only one gravity manipulator for flying, and a little program will hopefully detect if it ever starts to fail. Then with a quick redirect of power to the other one, he should have barely more than a hiccup while mid-flight. Switching back and forth between them should prevent major problems, as these are some of the most stable ones, the first few he built of their kind. In life threatening emergencies, Herald can activate a button that makes them both work at the same time, but we don't plan on using that option for general moving about. It could kill him if they both glitch at the same time, as unlikely as that would be.

Somehow, his body movements control the flight, along with a few more gadgets that have been added to the costume. I'm sure they've worked out a good system for this kind of thing by now, but it seems like it would be prone to problems if he makes the wrong gesture or goes to scratch an itch at the wrong time. I suppose I'll have to trust that Herald knows what he is doing.

I still have trouble remembering not to hold my hand in a certain way while wearing the flame gauntlet, but in time I assume it will become more natural.

"Here, try this shield out. It must be made of some kind of tinker material, it could be useful." I offer it to him, already tired of carrying it around.

He grabs the shield, inspects it carefully, then straps it to his arm with a nod at me. "I shall have to remove the rest of the paint later, but it seems serviceable. Illuminator, can you find any information about what it's properties are?"

"Sure, I'll take a look and see if there are any clues in old videos that Uber and Leet have posted."

"Thank you. In the meantime, we can look for more items they have dropped. I can try to salvage some parts for my own designs. Hmm, that pole you have there looks promising too, I think I'll grab that, you have enough to carry already."

He sticks it into some kind of holster on his back that looks like it's meant for a long polearm or other similar weapon. No doubt he plans on getting that turned into some kind of weapon when Illuminator has spare time.

I just nod at him, and let him take the lead from here. We have some watchers already, people peeking out from behind curtains of apartments around us. I keep an eye on them as we make our way down the street, following the trail of destroyed technology back to the warehouse.

No more than a minute later, the sound of traffic gets louder as a few of the distant vehicles sound like they might be heading towards us, coming up from the Merchants territory behind us. I glance up at Herald with one of my selves, as I send others back to take a look.

"Think it's the Merchants?" I ask in a low voice, knowing he'll hear it through the comm despite being ten feet up in the air, in the middle of the road.

"Could be. If it was only one vehicle, it might have been Armsmaster on his bike, but it sounds as if it's too few to be the Merchants, they prefer to travel in groups larger than that. Usually much louder about it too."

"I'm investigating, it looks like we have three teens on dirt bikes." Popping closer with a self, I notice something distinctive on the helmets as they speed by me, as fast as the little bikes can go.

"Crap, Undersiders. I'm seeing Grue's helmet, leaking that darkness stuff. Purple girl has a purple helmet with shooshy patterns, and Poofy shirt is in a white helmet with a gold crown painted on it, with the same poofy shirt as before. No sign of anyone else, so they haven't managed to recruit anyone new for their group. I'm guessing the bikes are to replace Hellhound's dogs."

"Tis a sad day when your superpower can be replaced with bikes. Purple girl must have noticed the flash of light with her super-senses."

"Ow!" I yelp and slap at my face. "A wasp just flew into my eye!"

I notice more buzzing around me, and thinking that I must have disturbed a nest, I dissolve that self. Better make a new self to follow the Undersiders discreetly from a different rooftop.

Unfortunately, this rooftop has a much weirder bug problem. As soon as I appear, I see a swarm of dragonflies zoom up to me and hover over my head. I crane my neck up to look at them, and notice tiny spiders clinging to the underbelly. They don't descend towards me, but they do fly around in a clear pattern, as if warning me away. A vivid red hourglass on the abdomen tells me exactly what I need to know, and I disappear once more.

"Herald, we have a problem. Kumo Yokai is here, and packing black widows. I think he's trying to warn me not to get involved, he didn't attack, but he let me know he could have."

"God dammit, if they keep on trying to escape from him like that, they will lead him through half the town. People could get killed! I don't know what they tried to pull to make him so pissed off, but they are idiots to be messing with him."

I'm very worried about the situation. Unless the Undersiders have held back some of their powers, I don't think they are going to be able to escape. I can see a swarm of bugs massing all around them, dimly seen by the light of streetlights and the occasional lit up window. Unbelievably, it looks like the bugs are a bit faster than the bikes. The Undersiders keep having to slow down for the rare bit of late night traffic, along with the occasional turn or patch of street that is more pothole than pavement. They also keep on swerving wildly at random times, possibly due to a bug that got too close to them. The pursuing dragonflies can simply go over everything in their way.

"Looks like they are loosing their little race with him. They are gonna get swarmed completely in maybe another minute. I'll move to a better position to keep an eye on things, but I have to be careful not to get too close. I don't want to get in the middle of the bugs, there are a lot of them at rooftop height following the Undersiders, and that's where I get the best view of the street."

Illuminator speaks up, "So, uh, am I the only one who thinks that we might see these idiots die tonight, if they can't find a way out of this mess? We know he's killed before, when sufficiently pissed off. I mean, I don't exactly like these guys, but they seem to be just your usual idiot teenagers with powers. Uh, no offense Messenger. But they are not exactly deserving of death."

"Yeah, I have to agree with you there buddy. Dumb kids, but still kids. Problem is that we certainly can't take him on either. I'm not immune to bug stings. All it would take is one or two getting in my costume and I'm done."

"I could take him on, I think?" I hesitantly volunteer. "It won't matter how many stings I get as long as I'm careful. And I have the flame gauntlet, fire beats bugs, right?"

"Hmm, that could work, you distract him, wear his swarm down until he has to retreat or lose all his bugs. You're mobile enough to keep up if he tries to avoid you instead of retreating."

Sounding doubtful, Illuminator chimes in, "Yeah, but what if he tries to sneak a few after the Undersiders anyways? Messenger can't see in the dark, not _yet_ anyways. If Kumo Yokai tries to go after anyone stealthily, we can't do anything about it. We can't just fireball randomly into the air hoping to hit something."

Wait, not y _et_? I kinda have to wonder now about what exactly he's planning to make me. When he said that he knew of a brilliant way to remove my eyeball weakness forever, I was thinking more just some glasses that react to flashes of light. But I shake my head and discard the thought. Now is _not_ the time for this.

I focus, breath out, and cascade to a full five selves to get myself some more thinking power. Out of one set of eyes, I notice that the Undersiders are getting much closer to us. My guess is Purple girl is somehow following our trail of broken and dropped Tinker Tech, perhaps hoping that whatever is on the other end of the trail is useful for not dying. Not a bad plan on her part, and it gives me an idea.

"Ok, I got it. Herald, you are going to be helping the Undersiders get away from Kumo Yokai fly flying them to safety, hopefully right into some PRT jail cells. You hover over there by the dead streetlight, and when they show up, you fly down and try to get them to follow you. Grab handlebars if you have to. Illuminator, you keep hidden and start looking for locations we can take this fight to. One that evens the odds and buys us time."

I pause and take another second to do one more full cascade to make sure I have all the angles covered, before dropping down to one self again. I've already used up some energy tonight, so I don't want to use more than I have to. The Undersiders are almost here anyways, I can see their headlights at the end of the street and Herald is almost in position, hidden in the darkness.

"A well lit area that will be easy to defend against sneaky bugs, that's what we want. Someplace with no walls to hide behind or inside, no grass, nothing natural. Nothing flammable either. Smooth white flooring is ideal, but anything similar works. I'm counting on you to find a good solution, I'll be too busy fighting and conserving energy to go scout it out myself. I'm going to wait until the bugs are as concentrated as possible before I fire, to take out as many as possible. Purple girl should be able to help with spotting trouble if we take this fight to a nice open arena, so I think that's our best chance."

Illuminator groans, "Got it. Sounds like a risky plan, but I've got a few ideas, I'll check out whats is closest to us."

Herald is already in motion. He swoops down to the lead bike, and with a precision that is unnatural, he settles into place just behind Purple girl. She is clearly not as startled as the other two, as they both swerve wildly in response to Heralds appearance, but Purple girl holds steady.

I can hear Heralds side of the conversation as he yells at her loudly, so as to be heard over the wind and engine noise. Probably unnecessary given her suspected powers, but I imagine it's reflexive to speak louder when you yourself can't hear well.

"We have a plan that might let you survive whatever foolishness caused you to rile up Kumo Yokai from his usual lethargic state. So unless you have any better ideas, come with me if you want to live."

I'm still following along, teleporting only just enough to keep up with them, but out of range of the bugs. I see Purple girl nod, and Herald fly off the bike with another maneuver that _has_ to be his power at work. We are going to have to come up with some kind of lie to hide his unnatural skill at everything, perhaps some kind of computer program that assists him in combat? It might work.

The swarm closes in, and Herald takes position in front of the three bikes. Grue and Poofy shirt both glance at each other briefly, but seeing as Purple girl is following calmly, they seem to decide to go with it. Herald takes them into a tight left turn, towards some taller brick apartment buildings. Poofy shirt seems to struggle with the tight turn, and I figure I should let Herald know that he can't do too many more of those maneuvers.

"Hey, Poofy is having a hard time with the turns, keep em a bit more easy if you don't want him to fall off his bike. Good job on picking this street though. It's perfect for funneling the bugs in tight, and brick is a lot less flammable than the usual building materials."

"After a few high speed chases, you tend to get to know the city pretty well." He jokes back at me. "Although having an actual destination sometimes soon would be nice."

"I'm working on it, I'm working on it. Hold your horses will ya?"

The swarm of insects is almost upon them by the time the banter is done, and I quickly cascade into position around it. Launching flame from all my hands, an immense amount of heat blooms all around the fleeing group. I can hear the sizzling of insects frying, and the parts of the swarm out of range of the fire visibly recoil and pause for a second. The teens are out of the hot zone before they have a chance to react, the speeds they are traveling at make it almost impossible to affect them unless I score a direct hit.

Herald does a little barrel roll midair as he laughs out loud. "Whoo that's fun!"

I keep a careful eye on the insects. Will he be smart enough to just give up now? Because I'm _not_ letting him kill the Undersiders. They are _mine_ to catch and stop. I want the complete set, hopefully with all of them one day redeemed and turning their powers to good instead of petty theft. No creepy, bug powered cape was going to stop me.

Alas, it looks like he wants to be beaten completely and utterly, as the remnants of the swarm spread out into a much more dispersed group but continue to follow. Some go after the Undersiders, and some come right at me. I grin viciously at my-selves. Looks like I need to teach someone not to mess with me.

I teleport into wildly different directions, flinging fire at anyplace that has a slight concentration of bugs. Sometimes I end up on fire, but that just delays me. If it wasn't for the added thinker powers, I think I would be getting dizzy from how rapidly I'm teleporting. I have to keep moving for fear of what will happen if one of the nasty, creepy crawly bugs manages to get on me.

Jump, jump, jump. Fire, fire, fire. I keep pace with the group and distantly notice Illuminator starting to give Herald directions. I'm too busy focusing on the terrain, on using the few light sources to pick out groups of bugs, and taking them out. An endless swarm seems to keep rising up from the nearby area, but I notice that the dragonflies carrying deadly black widow spiders are almost nowhere to be seen. It's only common insects, moths, flies, grasshoppers, cockroaches, mantises, mosquitoes, bees and wasps. Things he is pulling from the ground or air, not his carefully prepared swarm.

The clever bastard, he's wasting my time with common trash! My many eyes pick out Purple girl suddenly gesturing and pointing out into the night. I look closer with a few new selves and see eight lone dragonfly's making their way along the ground, just skimming along it as close as possible, almost invisible save for the occasional brief glint of streetlights on wings.

I aim carefully and launch fire at them, obliterating the bugs and slightly scorching the street. Purple girl stops pointing, and nods a thanks in my general direction. Looks like she's got the right idea, spotting threats and pointing them out. I'm lucky she's clever enough to have worked this out on her own, because I simply don't have the time or energy to spare to talk to anyone.

Moving, moving, moving, I am losing energy fast, but the sheer thrill of the fight is also somehow seeming to give me a bit of extra energy. I know that I get closer to having more selves, the more action I'm in. Perhaps the energy part works the same way? Or it could be the adrenaline. Fake energy that will leave me collapsed at the end of the fight.

Either way, we seems to be making our way to somewhere. I'll have to trust that Illuminator picked a good spot. The waves of bugs seem to be endless, but eventually we'll have to wear him out. His power must have limits.

I hope.

Ignoring the dread that tries to rear up with that thought, I focus instead on trying to spot the few true threats in the crowd. I can ignore most of them, they aren't as fast as the bikes or Herald, and swiftly fall behind. The constant replacement is a problem, but will hopefully peter out once we get to one location and stay there for a bit. He'll have to run out of local bugs eventually.

I know his range is limited from observing the limits of his spread-out swarm. He can only seem to control bugs in a block radius. I'm not sure where the fuck he himself is, but he might be controlling them remotely. Given how hard it is for people to catch him, he either has very long range, or turns into a bug himself. With luck, the range isn't far enough to reach wherever we are headed, but I'm not going to count on it.

This fucker has to have a weakness of some kind, and I _will_ find it.

I manage to hunt down a few more dragonflies with dark passengers, but it's slow going. Purple girl helps a few times, but she mostly concentrates on driving. I'm starting to grow much more tired, so I drop my selves down to only two at a time. Enough to keep moving and always have a backup, but there's no point in having more right now.

Before I know it, the group has turned into an immense parking lot and come to a stop underneath a gently hovering Herald. They are perfectly in the center of it, with tons of bright lights illuminating the group clearly. A few scattered cars near the edges of a mall seem lost and forlorn, but I see no people around to be put in danger by us.

Kumo Yokai hesitates, his swarm swirling around in confusion for a brief moment, before trying to plunge in at the group from all sides.

I cascade in to encircle the group, and let loose another volley of flame, beating him back from all angles. Herald is unstrapping a few gadgets of his own, and looks like he's going to be helping out shortly.

"Hi!" Purple girl cheerfully greets me. "So thanks for stopping to help us, but uh, I was kinda hoping for a better plan than standing around in the middle of a parking-lot. And I really don't like the fact that you want to also turn us in once we are safe."

"You can see the true threats coming, so point them out to me and I'll take them down. We hold off the bugs while Herald does the rescuing. You all get to live, and you really shouldn't be asking for more than that."

Grue's darkness seems to puff up a bit around him in a menacing manner, "So what, you take out Bitch, now you go for us? You going to rescue us right into a jail cell? I'd rather take my chances fleeing him on bike if that's the case. He has to have a range limit, we'll find it eventually."

Herald just snorts dismissively, "You are almost out of gas, and unlikely to find his limits anytime soon. Would you rather die instead?" Then he raises his own gauntlet, one that matches mine but is sized to fit his larger hands.

He fires at the bugs trying to sneak in by crawling on the pavement, and ice starts to cover the surface, coating the bugs completely and halting them in their tracks. He creates a wide circle of ice around us, to the limits of the gauntlets range. After that attempt, Kumo Yokai seems to withdraw his bugs once again, gathering them in a thicker and thicker swarm, but not having any approach us.

Purple girl tilts her head to the side, "Actually, I think that as long as a few of his original bugs are alive, he doesn't have a range limit. His range is wherever the bugs are. But it would be a real pain trying to find and kill every single dragonfly or black widow, since they seem to be darting about by the edges of the area. But Grue is right, we _cannot_ accept any help that leads to us being imprisoned."

Poofy shirt lounges on the seat of his bike and adds, "Actually, I would rather live, thanks. I can always escape from prison later. One rescue please!"

"Hmm, no. I think they are going to rescue us properly, and then set us free." Purple girl grins fox-like behind her helmets visor, smugness oozing from her.

"See otherwise, we might let slip to the Protectorate about your little secret. And you wouldn't want that, would you... v _ideo game nerd_?"

Herald stiffens slightly, but manages to control his reaction to the threat pretty well. I on the other hand am frozen with fear for a second, and reflexively cascade out to by myself some time and thinking power. Kumo Yokai seems content to stay back and keep amassing his swarm of bugs, so I focus on the verbal threat.

How did she _know_? She can't have overheard us, could she? Did she recognize Heralds voice? What else could she have picked up with her power? Or can she hear lies and truths in someones words, and put together the pieces that way?

I almost immediately relax again as I remember the unspoken rules. It's not quite the same as revealing someones civilian identity, but might end up pissing off other capes anyways. A self is scanning the sky for bugs, so I grin smugly as I look at the moon. Actually, this is even better. I have actual powerful people on my side, and if they were willing to arrange a theft to make my team better, they surely can help out with some girl with a big mouth.

I dwindle down again to only a few selves, bouncing around and scorching any of the insects that try to feint towards us. Prime me turns to Purple girl and I smile. "Actually, I think you will find we have friends in high places, and such revelations would only inconvenience and annoy. I can assure you that the authorities are already _quite_ aware."

I enjoy the emotions that flutter across her face like short lived butterflies. It's hard to make out the details given her mask and the helmet, but confusion causes her lips to purse, annoyance appears in the set of her jaw, and then finally shock as her eyes widen as she looks back and forth between us.

"Oh come on!" She blurts out in a whine. "That's so not fair! You can't really have Protectorate backing can you? Aw man, it's one of the Triumvirate too! Lemme guess, Alexandria? No... Legend? Shit, it's Legend. I guess I can see that, some kind of rehabilitation program from Mr Nice himself."

She pouts and folds her arms across her chest defensively. "Fine, I guess that won't work. Sorry guys, I tried but it looks like we'll have to take our chances with the swarm."

I'm completely mystified at what just happened. I had expected her to think I was bluffing, but she must indeed have the ability to tell truth from lies from body language or something. Maybe reading the subtle cues that I sometimes pick up on with a full cascade? She even managed to pick up on how it's _Legend_ that we have an in with. Even if the conclusion is slightly off, it's close enough to count. I have no idea how she managed _that_.

But the bigger problem is the continued insistence on facing the swarm rather than be captured. We are slowly running out of time, as eventually Kumo Yokai will try something we can't easily counter, or I'll run out of energy and be forced to flee. I know Herald is starting to look worried, and he can't fly off with three capes in his arms if they are resisting him even slightly.

This is a problem.

Illuminator startles me by speaking, I had completely forgotten that he was listening in, "So idea... We can't abandon the fucking kids, but they have to pay for both the threat, and for making us save them. I suggest we use em. They owe us one favour each, and have to do some task, some job, or get us information, something unspecified, and we can call it in at any time. This could be handy, as we might need some help on some jobs in the future for the Movement. You never know when you need a certain powerset."

I look at Herald and ask, "What do you think?"

He glaces at the swarm. It's almost a thick cloud of darkness with how dense it is, carpets of bugs all over the ground outside of our range of fire.

"Tis a solid idea. The weight of the debt will remind them perhaps to be more careful in the future, and if they refuse to honor it, then we _will_ ensure their reputations suffer for it. I know Grue was living as a mercenary before he joined their group, so he at least knows well the need to maintain a good reputation. The two newcomers I'm not as sure about, but we shall see. If the Lady knows the truth about me, then she also knows that I have contacts with many of the main villain groups and can ensure word gets around."

He glances sternly at the Undersiders, having made no effort to keep his words silent. He could have, and I'd have heard on the comm's, but it seems he wanted them _all_ to know this stuff. Not just Purple girl who knows too much for her own good.

"Wait, what idea?" Grues voice is distorted by his shadows, so it is hard to tell, but he sounds confused. "You looked at him and asked him what he thought, but never said anything at all!"

"Oh, twas our third party member who spoke. I'm sure the Lady caught the gist of it, but in summary, we shall still rescue you, and not deliver you to the authorities today, as long as you agree that you each owe us a favour. We can call it in at any time, whether tis a single job, getting us some information, or some other unspecified task. You will not complain, or shirk from your duties, and thus pay off the life debt you owe us."

I eye Purple girl and give her a glare. "We also expect some discretion in the _future_ , with regards to our secrets. We can be more of a problem to you, than you can be to us, and we honestly have bigger fish to fry. The only reason we've run into each other twice like this is pure luck. We won't deliberately hunt you down if we aren't given a reason to do so. _You're_ the ones who keep running into _us._ "

I hope they take the deal, I don't want to let them go scot free, but I can't let them die either.

Purple girl gets a canny look on her face, acts as if she's about to speak, but then glances at the bug swarm and pales slightly. "Normally I'd try to negotiate further, since I don't think you'd actually leave us here to die no matter what, but he's about to attack so you have a deal. Also, this time we might not be able to stop him, he's blocking the lights."

I instantly saw that she was right. He was starting to move the swarm around each light nearby, and things were getting dimmer. Soon we'd lose the ability to see bugs coming at us, and even a handful of harmless midges and flies can choke you to death if they go into your lungs. That's how Kumo Yokai had made his first kill, was with a handful of moths down some guys throat. Everyone had shuddered and whispered about it for days at school, the death was just so _gruesome_.

I look at Herald and nod, and he nods back.

"Very well Milady, would you and your companions please climb aboard? Try to hold on tightly, as I would hate to drop any of you."

The Undersiders seem hesitant at first, but Poofy shirt is the first to fling himself at Herald, leaving his dirt bike on its side, wheel spinning slowly from the fall.

"Since we're getting so intimate, you can call me Regent." He says with a sultry falsetto voice as he grabs an arm and wraps his legs around one of Heralds legs.

Herald, bless his twisted little soul, comes right back at him with, "Of course, and feel free to grab my pole any time during the flight."

Regent looks taken aback until Purple girl saunters up and grabs Heralds other arm. "He means the pole on his back, he's just trying to beat you at your game. Oh and I'm Tattletale, since we are doing the name thing now apparently."

As Regent nods in understanding and looks delighted, Grue trudges up hesitantly. "I'm a bit more mass than those two, you sure you're ok to carry us all?"

"Never fear, my flight device is plenty capable. Although it might be best to cling to my back. My arms are a touch full at the moment as you can see."

As the light fades and the swarm of bugs gets thicker, I try to teleport towards them and fireball them down. Unfortunately as soon as I clear one light, I realize my mistake, as the force of the fireball breaks the light bulb. Oops.

Luckily not all of my fireballs were well aimed, and one even immolated me instead, so only two lights were actually destroyed. It's much darker, but we still have a bit of time. "Guys, I hate to rush you but I can't stop the light blocking insects. This location was good for buying us time to talk, but that time has run out."

"Can you hit the booster switch for me Messenger?" No sooner does he ask, then I am there reaching past Grue's surprisingly well muscled legs and ass, to push the secret button in and twist it to the left with my thumb. I wouldn't put it past Tattletale to somehow not figure this out, so I'll have to remind the boys to change how the activation works once we get back to the lab.

"All secure?" Herald asks his passengers. A chorus of agreement is all he needs, and he flings himself into the air, using both gravity manipulators for maximum speed. He's going to need it, because they slow him down quite a bit.

The instant he takes off, Kumo Yokai's bugs attempt to swarm him, but I'm ready and waiting for it. Fire blasts forth in every direction, and I callously disregard Heralds safety as I make sure to place the fireballs close enough that no bug will make it through to land on anyone. They might be a little burned after this adventure, but they will be alive.

I imagine that the Undersiders thick motorcycle safety gear and helmets will protect them from the worst of it, and Heralds costume is very fireproof. He isn't going all taser focused like I am, so he gets some thicker, flame-retardant layers.

The only downside to creating the ring of fire that protects Herald, is that it leaves me for one brief moment, completely vulnerable. Kumo Yokai has sent plenty of insects at me as well as Herald, and I find that it's hard to teleport away now that the swarm is so thick. I can't go to a place covered in bugs, and I realize with horror, that each and every single me that is not on fire has bugs all over my costume, working their way towards my skin.

I'm not proud of it, but I panic. I have to make a split second decision. Bugs, or fire? I decide that Bugs are the lesser threat, as they might not even come with me when I teleport. I get to pick what comes with me, so hopefully the bugs get left behind. I try to ignore the feeling of bugs all over me and teleport as far as I can towards a distant parking lot light, one outside of the swarms area.

Unfortunately as soon as I get there, dread fills me as I realize that the bugs have come with me.

"No!" I gasp out in frustration, closing my eyes briefly and gyrating madly, swiping them away from my face.

"Shit, you ok Messenger?" Illuminator asks in concern.

I open my eyes again once I'm clear, and see the massive swarm of bugs coming at me. By the light of the moon, it's also clear that many are still going after Herald. I shudder and reach for courage to do the right thing and protect my friend.

Teleporting into the air, I ignore the bugs still crawling, still seeking my skin, still headed for my face. There are a few less this time, as some had tried to fly for my eyes and got left behind with the ones I dislodged, but I don't expect that to keep working. Eventually he will figure out that the best bet is to keep them in contact with me, to burrow under my skin, and into any openings he can find.

I plummet to the ground, and send out a cascade of selves to all sides of Herald, then fire another mess of fireballs. They illuminate the area briefly, giving me a better view of what is happening and where to go next. My aim is off, horribly off, and I hastily correct it with the next attack. But something goes wrong and three of my selves are on fire, only two get off a shot.

My luck is running out and I desperately copy my good selves again, ignoring the fact that the first insects have finally found skin and are biting. Ignoring the few I feel on my neck, almost at my mask. More fire, and the pursuing bugs finally drop back, most of them unable to keep up with Herald any longer. I did it, I held the main swarm off just long enough.

As I plummet to the ground, my selves see Herald briefly use the ice gauntlet on a lone dragonfly, Tattletale directing him as she clings to his arm and shoulder. Good, they will be able to deal with the few lone stealthy assassin bugs he sends after them, now it's time to worry about myself.

The light of the last fireball fades and all is darkness, save for the rapidly approaching lights below me. A bug makes it's way past the lip of my mask, and tries to cram itself into my nose. The incredibly disgusting sensation snaps me from my daze and I teleport away towards the glowing skyscrapers of downtown.

This doesn't get rid of the insect however, I can feel it burrowing, being joined by a few more, a trickle here and there. It's already impossible to breath through my nose, soon they will worm their way past the protections covering my mouth and get in there too. I'm already far away from the radius of Kumo Yokai's swarm, so how are they still attacking me? I hastily stick fingers in my ears to block the bugs from trying to get in there. It's a short path form the ear to the brain, and I won't make it easy for him.

Another cascade as I race towards the center of the city, towards the lights that promise safety, despite me knowing it's a lie. I think in triplicate, too tired to make the full five, too exhausted for even four selves. Is there a dragonfly or black widow somewhere on me? One of the original bugs that he uses to control the others?

It will be impossible to find it, not while I'm slowly dying, being attacked and having every orifice invaded. My costume has too many folds, pockets, and decorations for a bug to hide in. Especially the wings! I need another solution, and fast.

I look down and see a city full of life, full of possibilities. It's getting late, into the wee hours of the morning. Already some people are waking up, getting ready for the day, and preparing to live their lives. Will I ever get to do that again? My eyes water as a few bugs try to attack them, but I don't dare close them. If I'm blinded, I can't teleport. I brush them aside frantically with my fingers as I take a break from teleporting, angling myself so that the wind fills my wings and lets me glide onward, falling slowly but inexorably downward.

I blink the tears from my eyes and realize that I might still be able to save myself. I have one last trick to use to get rid of the bugs that stayed with me, duplicated with me, and seemed unaffected by the disorientation that hit my human passengers.

I look around at where I've ended up, hoping to hell that I'm either close to home, or someplace else familiar. I'm in luck as I see that I'm near Dom and Mark's house. I cough out a bug that slipped past my clenched teeth, brush a few from my eyes, and teleport for their home. I fight to ignore the stinging and biting, the disturbing sensations of things crawling under my skin and over it.

I want to vomit, I really do. This feels like the locker all over again, the darkness, filth, bugs. The panic and sensation of being trapped. Even if there are no metal walls stopping me from getting away, I still can't get away.

Not yet.

A burst of energy, one last ditch attempt to make it to my destination, to get the focus and brainpower I will need to pull this off. I manage to reach a full five selves one last time, and use every bit of brain this gives me to make one last teleport. I focus on the little window far below me, the room inside lit by the glow of a large TV screen that has a game paused on it. One house among many, in a sea of homes, but my ten eyes can see enough to make this work. All five brains picture myself standing there, no bugs taken along with me, no insects inside me, in my nose, biting my skin. Just me.

Focus.

Balance.

The wave of my power crests, and a sixth me is standing there, in the living room of my friends home. This me is naked, completely so. Not a scrap of clothing or costume, no bugs mixed with snot, and tears running down my face.

I stand amazed at the sensation of being six people at once, stunned for a few long seconds. Joyous at the sensation of being free of bugs, and _safe_.

My mind is already identifying problems that I didn't notice before in my panicked dash across the city sky, as well as solutions. The problem of leading a villain to my friends home, is only a problem if I disappear near it. I'll keep a self going on further, ignoring the bugs and maiming, keeping the eyes clear as long as possible, until I can disappear over the ocean. That should give him no clues. My costume and gear disappearing is a problem, as some of this stuff is impossible to replace. The DragonHide I have more of, but the stun baton, comms and fire gauntlet are one of a kind. I find a solution, then dissolve most of my surplus selves. I only need two in the sky, leapfrogging toward the ocean right now.

My Prime self runs to a bedroom to rummage through the closet for something to wear. I find some oversized sweatpants and a t-shirt that must belong to Mark, and I quickly drag them on. I keep twitching as bugs bite my other selves, the sensations too disturbing to ignore or block out.

As one self comes into view of the beach, gliding low over it, I teleport my Prime to it, landing softly on the silvery sand, cold waves lapping at my bare feet. I ignore it as I watch for the items my selves have dropped. I tried to throw the gauntlet, baton, comm, phone, and a few other items into the sand by me. My only hope is that insect eyes are too poor to make out the details of what is happening a few hundred feet away.

I hastily gather up every item, then strain myself one more time to make a new self, one holding it's own copy of all the important items. It's hard, harder than anything else I've ever done. I want to give up and lie down, but I force myself to focus one last time. Dom would be sad if I lost all the new gadgets he gave me, and I owe it to him for ever considering chopping his leg off. I _need_ these items, to keep people safe, to keep my friends safe.

I reach.

I succeed.

Immediately after, a blinding headache strikes all of my selves. They all dissolve save for the last me, the one I fight to keep. I collapse into the sand, clutching my hard won items, blood leaking from holes in my skin where the bugs broke through, and terrified that I'm going to pass out and be found holding obvious Tinker Tech gear.

Dizzy, in pain, exhausted, I lie there.

Darkness creeps over my vision and I black out.

* * *

AN: Hey, sorry for the long absence. Moving to a new city, finding new jobs, new furniture and new home. It's a bit of a hassle, upending your whole life. :P

But I will now resume your regularly scheduled updates, as I'm _finally_ done running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Yay!


	23. Dispatch 3-2

Wetness.

I jerk awake, horrified that I let myself pass out. Let myself be vulnerable.

My head narrowly avoids colliding with a dark figure bending over me, who seems to have been the one to splash water on my face. The figure moves back hurriedly, revealing a man with a light grey dress shirt, darker grey vest over it, and a flashy golden tie with an elaborate pattern peeking out at the top. Oversized sunglasses hide a chunk of his face, with long spiky dark hair arranged to one side obscuring even more. His sleeves are rolled up, hands dripping with leftover water.

I'm confused for only a moment, before I relax as I finally recognize him. "Jeeze Illuminator, you scared the crap out of me!"

"Hey, not my fault you decided to nap on the beach. You're just lucky I noticed when you went down to only one signal and stopped moving. _Love_ the new fashion choice by the way." He ends sarcastically.

"I didn't have much choice. The bugs were inside my costume. Inside _me._ " My voice cracks at this, and I have to take a moment to breathe and force down the remembered panic.

I must have worried him with the emotion showing inadvertently on my face, as he leans back in and hesitantly puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey dude, it's ok. It's over. You're fine now, Herald is fine. It's all good, ok? No more bugs, and the Undersiders live to be dumbasses another day."

I can't help but crack a smile at him being all reassuring and worried. He's a good friend.

"I'm ok, just, need to process. What happened to Herald?"

"He had to spend over a minute flying straight up into the air at top speed. I looked it up online, and we figured he'd have to go at least 4 miles up to get out of range of the bugs. Who knew the buggers could go up so high, right? He went over to the opposite side of the city, then slowly dropped down with the kids for another few minutes. In the middle of all that, I noticed that your trackers had finally stopped their mad dash to the coast. Figured that you might be in trouble once you didn't move or respond to either of us talking to you, so I took a cab here to check up on ya. I am so _incredibly_ glad you aren't dead."

"Me too." I answer vehemently. "Lets never, ever rile up the bug monster on purpose. _Ever_."

I start prying myself up off the sandy ground and Illuminator gives me a hand up. Wincing, I pick up the Tinker Tech I had saved from melting into nothingness, and hand them over for him to hold.

"I don't suppose the cab is still here? I need to get home to put some bandages on, and take some painkillers, my _everything_ hurts."

"Sorry, I sent it away after having him drop me off nearby. Didn't want to lead anyone to you if things were really bad. What _happened_ to you?"

"Bugs chased me once I split off from Herald, some managed to get on me somehow, were coming along for the ride. I thought that if I concentrated enough, I might be able to teleport without the bugs, but suspected it might leave me without any costume too. I noticed I was near your house, and figured that if it went bad, I'd steal some of your clothes."

"Heh, that's alright. I'm sure Herald is more than happy to contribute to the 'no naked heroes' foundation."

He chuckles, then looks a bit more somber as he tilts his head at me in question. "Hey, how did you manage to keep the gear then? If the rest of the costume went poof?"

"It was complicated, hard, and risky. I had to basically drop them from a bug infested self, to my newly t-shirted Prime below on the beach. Then once I had them all I had to make a new Prime with the stuff, far enough away that the bugs wouldn't find me if any escaped being melted into nothingness. Problem is that I lost control after doing that. I've been pushing the edge of my limits for a while, it made me pass out."

I grimace a bit as my skull throbs in reminder. "I actually still have a nasty headache from it too."

"Well fuck, that's not good. Why'd you risk a Thinkers headache and passing out just to recover some gear? You could have killed yourself if you ran out of power too soon!" Concern bleeds into anger as he brushes sand off the salvaged technology.

I put my hands on my hips and fire back, "Cus, you don't get to make stuff again if they need replacing. You gave me these things, thinking they would be safe with me. I'm not gonna lose them if I can help it!"

Illuminator just looks at me for a long second, then sighs, shoulders shrugging in defeat. "I'd rather have you alive Messenger, over any of my stupid toys. I can always think of new things to make, but I can't replace you. Just, try to remember that next time, ok?"

Shit, he's right. I feel incredibly bad now and wilt. My stubborn attempt not to disappoint him, not to lose his gear. It was pretty stupid. Sure, I'd feel bad, but that would be nothing compared to how he'd feel if I died trying to rescue his Tinker Tech.

Wrapping my arms around me, I shiver from the cold. I'm partly damp from the beach, and the reminder of how close I came to dying tonight makes the chill somehow worse.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I wasn't... Wasn't thinking."

He shrugs again, a smile briefly flitting across his face. "Hey, it's all cool man. We live, we learn, right? Oh, speaking of learning. We only found out after we dropped off the Undersiders, but it turns out that the high flying hi-jinks weren't even needed. As soon as you guys split off, Kumo Yokai had to decide who to follow, apparently he can't do two swarms at once. The Tattletale chick tried to tell Herald, but couldn't be heard over the wind, so we only found out a few minutes ago when they touched down."

I nod slowly in response, thinking about it. I'm glad to learn that the unstoppable seeming swarm had one more hard limit to what he could do. 'One swarm at a time', joins the fact that he can only direct bugs near ones that he has prepared in advance.

His power was _way_ more terrifying in action than I ever thought possible, and it's a good thing for this city that he's always been rather lethargic to act or do anything. (Save for when something riles him up into an unstoppable killing machine.) Only Lung could make him do something other than killing or keeping hidden.

"Not much we can do now. We didn't know at the time, and it would have been necessary if he hadn't been so eager to get to me. He probably thought he had an easy kill in me, since by the time he had to decide who to follow, he had bugs on me."

"Ugh." He shudders slightly. "Anyways, Herald is flying in as we speak. He's heard my side of things, but not yours . I'll catch him up if you want to, uh, de-sand?"

Illuminator eyes me up and down and I realize that I am indeed covered in sand. It's in my thick hair, all over the sweatpants and t-shirt, and covering half my face. Compared to the headache and pain from the open wounds, I hadn't even really noticed until he brought it up. I must look horrible. Well, more so than usual.

I start shaking myself off, ignoring the low murmur of the partly sub-vocalized conversation. I suppose I might as well examine the bug bites all over me, and make sure there isn't any signs of a black widow bite.

I can't check my face, but it seems like mostly normal wounds, no parts of me look rotted or discolored, so hopefully nothing venomous got me. It even looks like most of the bleeding stopped while I was unconscious.

Once I'm sure I'm not going to need a hospital trip for anti-venom, I finish de-sanding everything else. Trying to get the sand out of my hair is the worst, as it seems like an endless amount comes trickling out. Curse my one glorious feature! My thick mane of curly hair seems to have trapped an entire desert worth of sand in it. It will take many long showers to fix this mess fully.

After I'm done my futile attempt at getting a bit cleaner, I grab the offered communicator and put it back in my ear. I ask both of them, "So what's the plan on getting me fixed up and home? I doubt I have enough energy to do more than a single teleport, if that."

Herald responds first. "I'm pretty sure that would just make your headache worse. It does seem to be similar to the kind Thinkers get after overusing their power, and you do _not_ want to make it worse if so. I hear some capes kill themselves from the pain if they abuse their power too much. Painkillers will have no effect on it whatsoever, sorry Messenger."

I groan in disappointment. I was really looking forward to not being in pain at some point tonight.

"I know, I know, it fucking sucks."

"Hey, language!" Herald adds.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I forgot. Ugh."

"So, plan guys?" I ask once more, rubbing my forehead in both pain and annoyance.

"Right, I'm flying in right now. I'll grab you and drop you off at home after a brief detour to my place for some bandages. I think I can get you in through your window quietly enough that your dad will not awaken. Any objections to the plan?"

I barely give it any thought before I reply, "Seems fine." I'm in no shape to be thinking about anything too deeply at the moment.

"Yeah, seems ok as long as your arms can handle two more passengers tonight."

"Should be fine, I'm not at my limits yet. Hey, can you make a bit of light? I'm at the coast, but having a hard time spotting you guys in the dark."

Illuminator grins and reaches into his hair, well, his wig to be more precise. Fiddling with something hidden inside, it starts to shift colours and emit a soft golden glow, shining off now blonde hair. Then he reaches down and presses another hidden button on his tie, causing it to also glow with a similar radiance.

Now I can see some of the elaborate hand painted images that mimic a stained glass window or a mosaic. It's hard to make out right now, but I know from looking at it earlier that it depicts a golden sun right below where the knot is tied, and a flowery garden type scene underneath. I think its supposed to be evocative of old books that were hand painted, back when they had to copy them over months by hand. It's one of the meanings of Dominic's new superhero name, so they wanted a bit of a nod to it somewhere in the costume, despite it being the kind of thing that will let him blend into a crowd.

I know that the inside of the vest has a bigger, more elaborate version of the same scene, so he can quickly flip it inside out if he ever needs to look more like a superhero. We are going to be trying to play him off as a subtle kind of cape, with no explanation of his powers. We'll let everyone think he's a Stranger, Thinker, or something not obvious. With luck, he'll never get involved in fights unless we've planned for it to happen.

The vests structure has some sneaky supports built in, designed to make it really hard for him to slouch in it. It seems to be enough to make him pretty unrecognizable as Leet, combined with everything else.

The faint light does the job, and we don't have to wait long before Herald finds us and lands. Illuminator turns the light-show off quickly to avoid getting the wrong sort of attention.

"All aboard the arm-train. Please keep your limbs inside the vehicle at all times. Do try to avoid flailing around and poking any eyes out." He jokes, but I can see the concern in his eyes as he takes in my bleeding and exhausted self.

"Righty ho! Onward noble steed! To glory, and sleep! Man I'm tired as Fuu-uuuudge. Fudge. Clearly that's what I meant to say, cus you know, we have to get up early tomorrow to meet with the Protectorate and uh, fudge is a very sleepy kind of chocolate? Not really sure where I'm going with that..."

"Good save dude. Very smooth." I tease him, then focus on holding on as tight as I can to Herald.

Herald just snorts and takes off.

I grab on ever tighter as I feel the wind rush by. Somehow, it's different when I'm not the one moving fearlessly through the sky. I really miss teleporting right now.

* * *

Morning, after way too little sleep. Ugh! Why must the sun be so bright?

I squint at my surroundings sleepily, suppressing a yawn and wishing coffee didn't taste horrible.

I'm sitting on top of the hood of a large rented dump truck, keeping watch as best as I can while the guys move the fabber and generator. I'm exempt from moving heavy things due to my uselessness at the task, and instead supposed to make sure that no-one tries to steal the truck when the guys are inside, or gets close enough to spot our secret lab in general.

Plus I'm still kinda injured from last night, although luckily nothing was visible enough to alarm my dad at breakfast this morning. Long-sleeves helped too.

I'm also on the nearby rooftop where the telescope had been set up not too long ago. I'm keeping it down to only two selves, since this might take a while. Below, Herald is doing most of the lifting, using the flight pack and a net of stretchy but strong fabric the fabber made. Illuminator is helping by directing him around, and making sure parts don't bump into the walls of the truck as he lowers it down through the open roof.

He's actually pretty good at it, conveying directions in a clear way that won't be easily misinterpreted. I'd noticed it before when he was directing the filming too. I wonder if he'd have become a famous movie director one day, if he hadn't triggered? I doubt it would ever happen now, not with his Tinkering distracting him.

The guys manage to get the spidery looking fabber in, nestled right next to the big, bulky power supply. I haven't heard any cursing yet, so no damage has been done so far. I pop another self over and ask, "We ready to go then?"

Illuminator nods, "Yup, looks like it. Lets go earn ourselves a few bajillion dollars."

I can't help but giggle excitedly at the very thought of it as I dissolve my selves and take to the air, but I make sure it's the rooftop self that loses composure before it gets ashed.

Even after the expensive lawyer stuff that we'll have to pay once we get the first paycheck, we should still have tons of money to throw around after this. The only downside is we can only spend it as our Hero identities, since it would be a little suspicious if Taylor Hebert suddenly gets access to thousands of dollars. But really, right now I don't care. I already have a sneaky plan that will help my dad, and also help the city!

Herald climbs into the drivers seat, and Illuminator takes shotgun. I'm going to be escorting from the air. Herald could have done it, but he's also our best driver and if we get into trouble we might need that skill to get us to safety. While we don't expect trouble, you never know when some asshole will have a power that lets them know something they shouldn't. Hmm... actually now that I think about it, I should probably mention this, now that we're about to have money for more expensive Tinker-Toys.

"Hey, random thought guys, but we probably need something to protect us from precogs in the future. We make tons of plans, backup-plans, and so-on, trying to account for all the various powers out there that could mess us up, right? Like that Tattletale chick, she didn't just have super-senses, she also knew stuff like Kumo Yokai's limits, who you guys really were, and it took her barely any time at all to figure out that we knew Legend enough to not be black-mailable. So she had some kind of bullshit Thinker power. We need something that would stop that."

"I'm not sure you can stop Thinkers universally, the powers are all over the place really, but stopping precogs sounds like it could be do-able. Do we even have to worry about it though? I don't think there are any in this city working as Villains, so it's not that important is it?"

"Don't forget about the Movement jobs we might end up doing Illuminator. We might be wise to avoid letting the more subtle types in other cities know we are coming."

"Oh, good point. Hmm what would this even be I wonder? Some kind of shield, like for radiation? No, that's not it... I'm gonna have to mull this over a bit, see what my power comes up with. Hopefully whatever it is, is portable or else it will be hard to take with us on jobs."

"Awesome. Oh, and if you do figure something out, we should make it as powerful and long lasting as possible, or else very versatile. Your power is better for one hit wonders, so we need to maximize the benefit. Then we don't have to bother making copies of anything, if one is enough. But given that we are the kings of redundancy, I figure it might be wise to get a well done precautionary measure built, now that we are planning on kicking things up a notch on the danger scale."

"Hey, nothing wrong with redundancy and layers. We're _professionals_ after all." Illuminator teases.

I just roll my eyes and yawn again. I only got 4 hours of sleep after last nights escapades, and it was _not_ enough. I think I'll decline to mention to the guys that I'm secretly hoping this anti-precog item ends up being powerful enough to stop the Simurgh from messing with us.

"But I like the idea, if I can make one really good thing, it wastes my time less than making many crappy things. The problem is normally the expense of making a quality thing, but we have that solved now, assuming nothing goes wrong today."

"Yeah.." I reply nervously, scanning around for anything that might be out of place.

Nothing so far.

To conserve power, I try to glide most of the time we are traveling. Using my wing-cape this way helps conserve my limited reserves, even if I'm kinda noticeable up here. I can't help but bask in the warm sun as it warms me up a bit, contrasting with the cold wind I feel as I fall forward through the sky. I'm just glad there are no bugs whatsoever on this particular backup costume. I'm a bit sad that I lost all of the little mundane gadgets I had been collecting, but that's a small price to pay for being alive.

Eventually we reach downtown. The dump truck looks rather out of place among the early morning commuters, but there is always some construction happening downtown, so it's not too odd. We eventually turn into the above-ground PRT vehicle compound, and I can see Herald down below me lean out of the truck to speak briefly to some gate guard.

"Herald, independent hero here to drop off some Tinker Tech. Password is Epsilon Daisy Rhubarb."

I can't hear their response, but they let him in, lowering the spiky things that would rip a tire to shreds if driven over.

I glide down in a graceful spiral, only teleporting to a standing position beside them once they have both climbed out of the truck.

Director Piggot, a rather heavyset woman comes out to greet us. Despite her short, bleached blond hair, she looks not in the least bit sunny, happy, or stupid. Her steely blue eyes asses us as she takes her time approaching.

Herald makes a sweeping bow in her direction and booms out, "Ah, the fierce Director, what brings you here to meet us today? I was not aware that you would be personally supervising the transfer of our equipment to one of the Guild's laboratory facilities."

"Sfter having to endure your lawyer poking holes in our standard contract and arranging this complex agreement between three separate organizations, I decided I'd come and see what the fuss was all about."

"I promise that as soon as the lovely Dragon's transport arrives, you will get a fine view of my machine as we move it inside. Although I must confess, it is not much to look upon, the product it makes is far more impressive."

"At two hundred a yard, it had better be impressive. It's going to cost almost two thousand per soldier."

"Well, to be fair milady, you would be paying _far_ more if you had succeeded in negotiating an exclusive contract."

She eyes me grimly, and sighs. "We all know that would not have happened. I suppose I must be grateful that the PRT isn't being pushed to the back of the line, given the circumstances."

I suppress the urge to snort. Yeah, the Protectorate screwed up big time, letting a bully and psychopath terrorize me, but it's not like it was her fault. She's mainly in charge of the mundane soldiers who have to deal with capes every day, and they don't deserve to have less protection from criminals. That's why the PRT is going to get their orders before the Protectorate. Despite her being partly in charge of monitoring and supervising the Ward's program.

The Protectorate can wait for their orders, they have powers and could have used them to figure out how unsuited Sophia Hess was for being a 'hero'. Let the Guild and PRT have shiny new DragonHide fabric first.

Illuminator shifts his body slightly and quietly announces into the comms, "Incoming high velocity object. Probably Dragon."

I look up into the sky to try and spot her ship, and notice out of the corner of my eye Herald doing the same. The bulky and armored jet quickly goes from being a small speck, to a massive imposing vehicle. Turrets and weapons bristle all over, and I'm glad I don't ever have to fight her. She's probably the greatest Tinker alive, and even built the Birdcage, the ultimate prison for the nastiest capes. She is _way_ out of our league.

The jet hovers smoothly over an empty part of the pavement and touches down with precision. One end opens up, and a ramp extends down towards the back of the dump truck.

"Well, I suppose that's my cue to start loading things, if that is alright with you Dragon?" Herald asks nervously.

A soft female voice that's been slightly obscured by digital anonymization speaks up from the aircraft. "Of course. I hope you find the facility suitable for your needs. I promise I will do my best to guard your technology as if it was my own."

"I expected nothing less from the mighty Dragoness herself." He boasts and flies up to hook his belt to the netting that still surrounds each item in the truck.

I exchange a glance with Illuminator and subvocalize, "So cheesy."

"Like, gouda cheesy."

"Eh, more like pamesan cheesy."

"Nah, like, mega stinky blue cheese."

As I'm about to reply with an even grosser cheese, Director Piggot interrupts our silent argument. Not her fault, most people wouldn't notice unless they were right next to one of us, unless it's in a very quiet room. It's not like we move our mouths or throats much to subvocalize, mine is even covered by my mask so I can cheat and move my lips a bit, unlike Illuminator.

"I do have one thing I feel I need to discuss with you Messenger, in private if you will?"

I look her over and wonder what it could possibly be about, that she doesn't want my teammate's or Dragon to hear. I have a nasty suspicion about this. Making a snap decision, I respond, "If you think it will be brief, then fine. Illuminator and I can spare a few minutes."

No way I'm going off with her without some moral support. Not if I think this is about who I think it's about.

She looks a bit displeased at my inclusion of Illuminator, but she starts to lead the way to some corner of the vehicle compound with barely any hesitation. I suppose she assumes I'm not too close to my new teammate, and that including him in my private issues is my own fault if I don't take her hint.

"What's going on guys? Also, I'm not cheesy, I'm magnificent and you know it."

Illuminator responds for the both of us, as I'm following the Director a bit too close to talk without her hearing some noise from me. "Probably just some drama, but she wanted to talk to Messenger alone. He wanted me for backup, so I'm guessing it's about Shadow Bitch."

"Ooch, what could Piggot possibly have to say about _that_ situation that's new?"

"No clue, but we can hope it's good news."

Director Piggot finally reaches what she seems to think is a safe distance from anyone else, and turns somberly to me. "I regret to inform you that our disciplinary measures have failed. Shadow Stalker was en route to be transported to another city, when she and her family disappeared. The matter you have mentioned to the Protectorate is being investigated, and this was meant to be a preliminary measure, until we found out the true extent of her abuse of power."

I can't respond, I'm shocked that they actually did something about her, only to have it fail so horribly.

She seems to take my silence as an answer, and continues, "We are investigating how she managed to not only escape, but to abduct her family as well. We know she had outside help, and are working on identifying who, but as their disappearance occurred not far outside the city, we think she might still be here in Brockton Bay. You are advised to be careful in the upcoming few months, as she may be trying to uncover your identity, along with perusing other private vendettas. I do apologize again for this, as it was the PRT who was escorting her to the new city, and thus it was my people who failed at their job."

Well shit.

I hadn't been paying attention to my old crappy school, but now apparently Sophia is going to be stalking kids, trying to find me. Thank goodness I'm pretending to be a boy, but I feel bad for any guy she _does_ end up suspecting. I can only hope they catch her before she hurts anyone. She was always the most physically aggressive of my three bullies, and I can easily see her beating up all the tall, skinny guys who share my build, just to try and provoke them into using their 'power' to escape.

The Director seems to be waiting for me to respond, so I gather my frayed thoughts and think over my words carefully. "I assume you are hunting for her. If I see any sign of her, I will of course inform you. I trust that this will be resolved swiftly, and that justice will be done."

Piggot allows herself a small, joyless smile. "Oh trust me, it will be done indeed. I've no love for bullies with powers. I only regret we didn't nip this in the bud sooner, but I have little say over what the Protectorate does with its Ward's."

Illuminator smirks at her, "Of course not. After all, you aren't the one behind the push to get morally dubious Rogues pressured into becoming Wards or Protectorate members, whether they wanted to, or deserved to. Oh wait... My bad, you were. Thanks for the warning, _lady_. I'm sure it was the least you could do."

Me-ow! I never knew Illuminator could be so dryly sarcastic while sounding so politely formal. It sure surprised the Director, but I'm not sure this is a good thing. Every single one of us has now expressed our dislike of the current law enforcement organizations, in one way or another. Herald being rude and turning down Armsmaster, my obvious and reasonable mistrust of the Wards program, and now Illuminator's blatant dislike of the PRT Director's policies.

I get the feeling that we are never gonna be very buddy buddy with any official government organization, not at this rate. But hopefully as long as we try to be at least a bit professional, the mercenary relationship we are developing will keep them from interfering with us.

I discreetly nudge Illuminator with an elbow to get him to stop antagonizing her, and try to end the conversation. "Thank-you for informing us, but we should go now."

Director Piggot's mouth has practically vanished into a thin disapproving line, but she stiffly nods her head at us in dismissal. Phew, I'm glad she isn't going to be making an issue of what my idiot teammate said.

I make sure that Illuminator has started walking back to the transport before I teleport over to Herald.

"So to recap for you, Shadow Stalker was being sent away by the authorities, but broke out and disappeared her family. She's presumed stalking the city and possibly trying to find out my identity for revenge purposes, since I outed her crimes. Oh and she had help somehow."

"Hm, unfortunate. Once we finish getting the fabber production automated a bit, perhaps we should attempt to locate her?"

Shaking my head, I reply, "She can turn into literal shadows, I doubt we have a chance of locating her unless we build some kind of tracking device. But it would have to be so specialized, it would be a waste of time and resources."

"Yeah, we have better things to focus our time on. I just don't like the idea of her running around and causing trouble for us. Loose end, you know?"

"I know. What do you think Illuminator?" I add as he finally reaches us.

"Forget the bitch. Someone will spot her and bring her in eventually."

He wilts under the glares we both send him, but can't slouch fully in his costume. "Right, right, language, sorry. Although on the brighter side of things, _man_ that felt great, telling Piggot off like that. I've been wanting to say something like that to her face for years! Well, her and a few dozen other people. It didn't sound too rehearsed did it? I've always wanted to pull off being sarcastic yet suave."

I barely resist the urge to hit him over the head, we are in public and have a professional image to maintain.

"It sounded properly sarcastic on my end, although I was too busy doing actual _work_ to see anything. But since I've done the hard work of loading everything, maybe we can go now?"

Right, he has a point. I look nervously at the transport, and make myself walk into it. I really hope that Dragon isn't able to somehow figure out our secrets, and decides to drop us off at prison instead of a lab. I mean, who knows what kind of scanners she has installed everywhere.

But I'm probably being irrationally paranoid.

As soon as all three of us are inside, the ramp retracts, and the large door begins to slide closed.

Dragon speaks again, "If you could all find a seat and make sure you are buckled in, then we will be able to get underway."

"We are eternally sorry about the delay getting aboard your noble ship." Herald replies with a short bow in no particular direction, as he makes his way to the closest seat.

"Yes, I heard from my audio feeds the unfortunate news you have been given. I do hope the matter is resolved peacefully and swiftly, but only time will tell."

"Oh, you heard that. Uh, right, should have expected that your ship would have the best in audio and visual pickups." Illuminator sounds nervous as he fumbles at his straps.

I'm near him, so I help him before he gets too tangled up. Then I teleport into a seat of my own and have my old self strap me in, then dissolving it. I figure it might be best to keep quiet, since there is no way of telling if her technology is good enough to pick up on our sub-vocalized communications while inside her ship. The guys must have the same thought as me, as the entire trip we don't talk much at all.

It could have been an awkward trip, sitting there, staring at each other, not saying anything in case Dragon can hear us, but surprisingly it is not. We just hang out in comfortable silence. I assume Dragon spends her time remotely piloting the aircraft, since she seems not inclined to start a conversation with us. She's probably multitasking and doing a million other things at once.

I actually end up falling asleep a bit, napping in my chair and relying on the straps to keep me upright. A jolt wakes me up, and I quickly realize that we have landed as the others are starting to unstrap themselves and stretch.

I make it easy on myself and teleport out of my straps and seat. Cheating with powers is just so handy. I feel refreshed a bit, even if I doubt I was asleep for more than half an hour.

"Welcome to your new, top secret laboratory facility. You three will be going through the biometric scanners shortly, to be registered in the system. No-one, not even myself, can access the data they will be using to verify your identity. The outside of this facility will be monitored and well defended by my automated systems, but as requested, the inside will be free from all such measures. This will result in less than perfect security, but you are welcome to add your own internal defenses as long as they will not effect anything external to the room. This facility has not been made proof against teleportation, as requested, and I have finished setting up the chemical supply that will feed your fabrication machine, so you may begin production immediately."

"Huh, not bad. You work fast." Illuminator whistles appreciatively.

"Masamune requires facilities similar to the one you requested for his projects, so we merely re-purposed an unused one we had nearby. Setting it up for a constant stream of chemicals was not difficult, as the plumbing system was easy enough to appropriate and modify. The logistics of how to allow the finished product out without introducing security holes was much more difficult to accomplish. But I believe we have a workable solution that will allow for constant production while unattended, with the occasional visit for maintenance or to change the type of fabric being outputted."

"Good, good, exactly what we wanted Milady. Obviously we will get started on the Guilds order first, fulfill our end of the deal. Then once we have finished the initial payment, we shall get started on all the other orders we have placed, with the occasional Guild order interspersed to pay you for your continued security and the chemicals, as well as for handling the logistics of delivering the DragonHide to the appropriate people. Does this sound good?"

"It is entirely satisfactory. If you find that you need anything else, please let me know when you are ready to leave."

"Of course." Herald gives us a nod, and we go out of Dragons transport together. Grey concrete floor surrounds us, a barren, empty room with no visible entry large enough for the Jet to have used. Only a medium sized metal door right in front of us, set into metallic walls. This is obviously where we need to go, as the rest of the room is rather dark, but the lights by the door are brightly lit.

Herald strides forward boldly as usual, but the rest of us are a bit more hesitant to approach. I can see Illuminator attempting once again to slouch, and once again being stopped by his costume. I'm nervous as well, but I try to ignore it. The door slides open at our approach, and inside is a blue glowing room with a few futuristic looking screens in the far wall. Once we are all in, the door closes behind us and seals tightly.

A glowing hum sounds, along with a robotic voice. "Please close your eyes for ten seconds while sterilization occurs. Then proceed to the screen to have your retinal pattern scanned."

I quickly close my eyes, as I don't want to even _chance_ damaging them. Sure Dom could probably give me new cyber-eyes, but I like my current ones just fine.

Through my eyelids, I can see the blue glow intensifies massively. It stays steady for ten seconds as I catch a whiff of some strange chemical being released into the air.

I open my eyes once I'm sure the glow has died down fully, and spot Herald already headed to one of the screens. I grab my own, and Illuminator gets the last one. All I see are the words, 'Please look at the screen and focus your eyes on the bullseye.'

Illuminator has to take off his sunglasses, but my mask and Herald's only obscure our lower faces, so we have no problems. A second after I finish reading the words, they are gone, to be replaced by a bullseye in the center of the screen. Almost as soon as I focus on it, it moves to another part of the screen. I end up having to chase it around with my eyes for a few seconds, before I'm finally done and words appear again.

'Please proceed to the next chamber once all subjects have completed registration.'

Well, that was pretty easy. I look at the guys to see if they are done and get distracted by a whoosh, as another door opens up. I guess that means we are good to go.

Shrugging, I move on. This time I get into the next room before Herald, as I'm a lot less nervous about things now, and quite curious as to what's next.

We see nothing but a small little alcove in the wall, looking like a vase or potted plant might go there. When I reach it, I see some words appear on a screen right above it. 'DNA sample please.'

Easy enough. I grab my new emergency knife from by my ankle, pull off one glove, and make a tiny cut right by a fingernail. No need to slash my palm open or something stupidly dramatic like that. The skin right by my fingernails always bleeds easily whenever I accidentally fiddle too much with the excess bits right by the nails. I'm sure it has a proper name, but heck if I know it.

Dropping a bit of blood in the alcove from my finger seems to do nothing, but it closes up once I remove my hand. I hear nothing but a bit of a liquidy sound, then it opens up again, clean and blood free. The small screen says, 'Next sample please', so I assume it worked.

"Ooh, can I borrow that? I don't really have anything sharp on me." Illuminator asks as he pats himself down dramatically.

I just roll my eyes at him and hand him the knife. "Sure, knock yourself out."

Putting my glove back on, I watch as he removes his own thin glove and mimics me. He returns my knife and I wipe the tip off before putting it back in the ankle holder.

Herald just chuckles at us, walks up to the alcove, pulls down his mask, and spits inside. "You guys watch _way_ too many movies."

Another pleasant ding sound, and another hidden door whooshes open. I glare at Herald. "Ya could have said something sooner.

"Eh, I'd have stopped you if it looked like you drama queens were going to stab your palms open."

"Dude, I hate you."

"Love you too, bro." He grins unabashedly and pulls his mask back up.

This time a long corridor has to be traversed, with many white and blue tiles in a chessboard pattern, before we finally come to the end. One last door, this time with a big metal wheel set in it, and a small sign that says, 'Left to open. Right to close.'

"Guess we just spin the wheel to go in? I wonder what kind of security measure this is for."

"No clue, but I'm sure it's something clever." I shrug and attempt to turn it, expecting it to be too heavy or stiff to move by myself. To my surprise, despite it looking like a big, unwieldy thing, it turns smoothly and easily. I hear a hiss as the seal is cracked, and gusts of air blow out at us. The wind won't stop, so we end up having to fight our way past it into the next room. It finally stops once we close the door and seal it up behind us, with another wheel located on the inside of the door.

"Oh, I get it. Gaseous capes would be blown away by that part, and I bet any air that does get inside is super filtered and tested."

"Yeah, looks like it." The last door looks ordinary, a simple knob set into a set of metal double doors with frosted glass. Warm light beckons from beyond, a sharp contrast to the mostly blue and sharp lighting that's been everywhere so far.

Herald steps up and turns the knob, revealing our new lab space. It's not even that large of a space. There are hoses and tubes coming out of a wall and coiled up in neat piles, each a different colour and carefully labelled with the contents. A dark, slotted hole descends into the ground from the middle of the room, with a few sections of metal gratings loosely covering the top, and a small bit of paper folded into a tent on top saying, 'Fabric Export only, no organic beings beyond this point.'

Warm light comes from multiple rows of lights set evenly across the ceiling, but that's pretty much it. I can't even tell where the air is coming from, there are no wall sockets to plug things in, no light switches, nothing. Just walls, floor, and ceiling.

Illuminator inspects it with a critical eye, "Hm, not bad. Bit small, but we don't need much space. Assuming she's keeping her end of the deal and there are no ways for her to monitor what happens inside here, I think we've just secured ourselves a pretty fuckin fantastic new base. I can do quite a bit of secure tinkering in here, the delicate stuff I'd never trust to the old lab space. Ok, Herald, you move stuff in, I'm going to sweep this place for bugs. I doubt I could detect any that Dragon herself has planted, _if_ she has, but it would be stupid not to at least check."

"This better be worth it, we'd be millionaires in a single month if we didn't have to pay the Guild for this place." Herald complains.

I lean on a wall and reply, "Nah, we'd have the fabber stolen from us in a month is what you mean. Slow and steady is better, it's not like we suddenly need millions of dollars right now. Illuminator is just gonna spend his share on more stuff to Tinker with, I'm gonna be doing my thing with mine. I'm not sure what exactly you plan on doing with yours, but I doubt you'll be able to spend it fast enough. We can't use it out of costume anyways."

Herald just shrugs, acknowledging my point. While Illuminator pulls out a few gadgets from the inside of his vest, Herald leaves the room to go back through the security system and start bringing the equipment in.

After a few attempts at talking with him, we realize that the base is heavily shielded from electronic signals too. Our comms don't work with anyone outside the same room as us, so no keeping Herald company as he does the heavy lifting.

I'm left without much to do, so I end up closing my eyes and wishing I could take a nap. It's pretty hard to focus today, between the lack of sleep and the overuse of my power last night. Add in the Sophia Hess drama, and it's not looking like today is going to be a good day.

Before I know it, Illuminator has pronounced the room as clear as mundane technology can detect. We don't have a Tinker device for this sort of thing, we're just relying on something Herald put together, following plans Illuminator dug up online.

"So... What's the plan for mundane life anyways?"

"Er, what?"

"You know, what you want to be when you grow up? I mean, Herald's almost got his PhD, I'm long done my shitty degree and have abandoned any hopes and aspirations I ever once had, but you've got almost unlimited potential, you haven't really even started yet. What interests you? Since we gotta kill time anyways, I'm a bit curious about it."

I look away from him and stare at the wall for a bit, trying to figure out a 'suitable' answer. Eventually I give up and tell him the truth.

"I honestly have no idea. There's nothing I'm really passionate about, aside from trying to do something good with my life. I'm not amazing at anything. I don't understand how some people can already know exactly what they want to be, it seems impossible to pick something meaningful."

I slump my shoulders and sigh. "And the worst part is that I'm starting to get the question more and more now, I'm only a couple of years away from having to apply to some University, from having to make a decision about what the rest of my life is going to look like. I have no answer for anyone, or for myself. I've been too busy keeping my head down and just trying to survive High-School."

"Huh, yeah that can be a problem. I mean, I was lucky, I've always known what I wanted to do, ever since I watched my first movie as a kid. Herald I think was undecided for a while. No clue why he picked Computer Science in the end."

"Amusingly enough, my fake answer to get people to stop asking me that kind of question is usually 'something to do with computers'. I've always done well in that class in school, and it's boring enough that no-one really likes to talk about it once I bring it up, so it's a pretty good way to deflect attention."

"I'll have to tell Herald that you think his field of study is boring." He teases me with a grin.

I roll my eyes at him and deadpan, "Oh no. Whatever will I do. The horror. The horror."

"Still, it's not a bad idea. You can work from home with some kinds of jobs, if you want to devote more time to heroics later. Lots of job openings, so you don't even need a fancy degree like he's getting. You can get away with just learning a few languages, and specializing in something like making webpages, security, or data analysis, or even making games!"

"Eh, it's an ok idea in theory, but it doesn't really excite me. If I didn't have powers, I'd consider being a doctor one day, or something useful like that, but there's no way I'd have the time and energy to devote to that, not while I'm busy trying to improve the world."

"Well, I know you need a lot less medical stuff to be an EMT, it would only take you a few years maybe? But you'd be dealing with emergency's and death every day, it might not be a good job for someone who also has to deal with that sort of stuff as a hero. I'd go with something that you want to do every day. That you look forward to."

"Problem with that is the only thing I look forward to these days is hanging out with you guys in costume."

Illuminator scratches his head and shrugs, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I sometimes wonder if I should even bother going back to my normal identity. I just want to live the rest of my life as a cape some days, when I forget about the dangers and risks. Normal me has no job, no girlfriend, no close friends who aren't also capes, it's depressing really."

I feel a flash of pity for him. His life is almost as depressingly lonely as mine is.

"Sorry Illuminator, didn't mean to ruin the mood."

"Nah, not your fault I went there. You know what it's like, so I don't mind griping about it with you."

"Yeah, that's true. Herald probably never has to worry about this kind of stuff, I envy him sometimes."

"Actually, you'd be surprised, Herald's always been the social butterfly, but he's not much better off than we are. We at least have family to support us, but he's cut off all contact with his, ever since we started University. I'm not gonna tell you too much about it, it's his thing to share when he feels like it. But suffice to say, his family is rather fucked up. They strongly approve of the Empire's racist 'philosophy', and I get the feeling that if they ever found out about him _experimenting_ with a few guys, they'd go ballistic. They never did like him being friends with me either. I'm too 'ethnic' for their tastes." He ends with a grin.

"Huh, never would have guessed. He's such an open and accepting kinda guy, very laid back."

"I know right?" Illuminator asks, just as we hear a loud bang on the doors.

I quickly teleport over and open both doors with two selves, revealing Herald flying just below the ceiling, netting containing the power generator below him. It sways softly back and forth, and probably is what made the knocking sound.

"Oh good, I was wondering if I'd have to set it down and unhook myself to get the door, since the comms weren't working out there. If you could keep the doors open for a sec?"

By the time he finishes asking, he's already halfway through the opening. He sets it down on the floor near one of the walls, and lands for a moment to stretch.

"Man, it's a pain taking this stuff through the checkpoints. I can't wait till the transporter is up and built."

"I know right?" Illuminator responds excitedly. "I think I've managed to get a handle on how Messenger's power works, using the few scanners we salvaged from the warehouse. Once we get some pricey components it should be easy to put something useful together. Then bam, teleportation all over the frikkin place."

"Yeah, it's gonna be handy. I'll go get the fabber now, have fun setting things up."

And with that, he's off once again. There's no more time to stand idle and chit-chat as Illuminator and I get serious and start to work. I'm used as an extra pair of hands as I follow his instructions closely, helping him remove panels, tighten loose things, and remove a few tools he hid inside. The generator has lots of hollow space, so it's easier to store items inside than to bring them separately in another load.

By the time we are finished arranging everything to his satisfaction, Herald is back with the fabber and we have more work to do. First is moving it so that the output will go smoothly into the hole in the floor, then comes finding a way to connect the hoses to the tanks that we normally use. (Duct tape, lots of duct tape.) Then checking and triple checking that nothing got damaged in the move.

Lastly we hook it up to the generator and test that the software doesn't throw up any errors. Printing a small section of test fabric takes a few long minutes, but it looks fine once its done.

Tools are strewn about, leaked fluid lies in puddles here and there, but we did it!

I can't help but feel proud at what we've accomplished together. This thing will hopefully keep running, making us money and making people a bit safer, without the need for us to check up on it often.

Herald is standing in between Illuminator and I, and before I know it he's grabbed the both of us in a one armed hug. "I have to admit, this is pretty awesome. Good job team."

Illuminator promptly starts wiggling about, trying to get free. "Ack, affection, my mortal weakness!"

I can't help but laugh aloud at his antics, and I send another self over to trap him even further. I add in a head noogie for good measure. "I'm pretty sure your weakness is exercise."

"Hmm, I think he might have also mentioned sunlight weakens him."

"We can't forget his weakness to junk food."

"Or to pretty girls."

"Oooh, and-"

"Har, har, very funny guys, now let me goooooo!" He whines pathetically.

I collapse down to one laughing self, and Herald generously decides to follow my example and release our poor rumpled friend. Illuminator tries to straighten up with dignity, adjusting his askew wig back to its normal position with a stern look at the both of us.

But he can't keep a straight face for long and lets out a few chuckles at his own expense. "Ok, ok, fun time is over. Herald, if you'd get it set up and starting to print the Guilds stuff, I'm gonna go organize my tools on the little folding table we brought. Messenger, if you could find a way to clean up the mess on the floor?"

"On it."

"Sure, I'll see if Dragon cares if we dump it down the hole or if we should do something else with it."

I make my way past the defenses, and eventually get to the transport. Dragon reassures me that it's ok if a bit of liquid waste goes down the hole, since there's a moving metal grate at the bottom that will let the waste go through for disposal, but will prevent the fabric from going anywhere but down the conveyor line. She's set it up that way in case a pipe leaks while we are not there, as she doesn't want the room to be flooded due to a simple mishap.

I end up having to use the transport netting as a makeshift mop, and physically push all the liquid around by hand. I could have done it faster with more selves, but I'm trying to limit the teleportation and afterimage use today. I never want another repeat of that _horrible_ headache.

We finish up and together we watch the fabric slowly disappear down the hole as it gets made. It's pretty fascinating how the arms move around, weaving and spinning thread out of chemical goop. It goes much faster this way, since the fabber only has to make the fabric, not to sew it into a costume.

Not bad for a mornings work. A week of this and we should have the 'rent' for the facility paid off for the next few months. Then the next day of work for the PRT goes towards paying off the rest of the lawyer fees, since we only could come up with a deposit using New Wave's money, and fancy lawyers don't come cheap.

Everything after that is pure profit, and I know exactly what I'm going to spend my quarter of the profit on. I'm going to fix the shipyard, get rid of the wrecks, and open the port up for mass shipping once more. And I'm going to hire dockworkers to do it!

* * *

AN: Yes, poor Taylor isn't much of a game nerd, is she? :P  
Got quite a few comments about last chapter's 'Zelda's Shield'. I of course know that it's 'Links Shield', but really, it such an easy mistake to make for someone not into games, right? So I hope you enjoy the mistakes she makes, it's fun trying to think them up. :)

Oh and glad to see some of my reviewers are also Name of the Wind fans and got the reference!

Ending this chapter on not much of a cliffhanger, but I'm done writing for now so this is all you get this time. Sorry guys! Also, still not editing things terribly well before I publish. I'm too much of a 'just keep going' writer. I hate looking back on my work, cus then I never get to writing anything new. I imagine there's plenty of useless stuff I could be editing out, but oh well, you wouldn't be here if you didn't like reading. :P  
By now I've gotten enough down to make a full novel worth of reading, so I think I've scared off all the ones who like short stories anyways. Hahahaha!


	24. Dispatch 3-3

Tinkers.

I think they must _all_ be insane... And _I'm_ insane as well to be enabling one. This is especially apparent as right in the middle of Mark's interesting 'History and Politics' lecture, a derelict ship out on the edge of the boat graveyard is _completely_ vaporized.

You see, April 17 was the next meeting of the Movement and I wanted us to be ready for it. To have something to show them, or at least be able to say that we are making progress towards it. Thus a week before the meeting, we were de-building an important and old power generator that Mark had dug up from where it had fallen in the Bay from some old fight long ago. Dominic wanted to get access to some components in it that he has decided will be vital for making an anti-Endbringer weapon.

My understanding is that this generator was the first of it's type made, thus a good, stable source to use for a nasty surprise to give to the next Endbringer I fight. Apparently it contains an entire miniature sun (somehow), no doubt due to Tinker bullshit. He wants to re-purpose parts of the container to instead hold a freaking _black-hole_ , since apparently it makes no difference to the containment fields, as they are 'practically the same thing'. (His words.) There was also something about 'gravitational fields dispersed to other dimensions', 'miniaturization folds of space-time', and 'magnetic containment fields', but he had lost me past the whole, 'mini-sun' thing.

So because of this, Prime me was sitting on the deck of the workout-ship, listening to Mark explain some of the nuances of history and how parahumans have affected it. My other selves bouncing back and forth beside me, always keeping in contact with a medium, egg shaped object that is perhaps the size of a microwave. Mark's power makes him a very good teacher, so we've gotten into the rhythm of using de-build time to help me super-study too, since there's no point in wasting my limited time.

The bright, blinding light that got my attention initially, fades away and turns into a shock-wave of hot, steamy wind. As heat continues to pour forth and boil the ocean near the ship, there is a massive column of steam obscuring our view of the mishap. The ship we are on creaks and groans as the ocean briefly recedes, filling in the hole that is being made. Then comes the inevitable reversal as a massive wave generated by the explosion surges forwards towards the shore, other ships, and out into the ocean. Like a ripple caused by a dropped pebble, but in this case, it's the accidental escape and destruction of a miniature sun.

Mark literally facepalms and groans, "Really? That's the _second_ ship we've destroyed this week trying to salvage a power source!"

"Well you have to admit, this one was particularly impressive. The last one just sank quietly and without much fuss."

I've already made one of the afterimages the new Prime as soon as I realized what had happened. I was a bit too late to stop the vaporized water from making the waves, but at least I stopped the mini-sun from continuing to eat the water and make things worse. After-all, it's my job to keep the sun-egg safe and un-exploded if a backlash should occur.

"Hey Illuminator, you ok buddy?"

"Yeah, the mega-wave rocked my boat like fukkin hell, but we were right about the calculations of minimum safe distance, so I'm good. Heck, maybe I'll have picked up a bit of a tan from this."

I roll my eyes and complain, "So, that was interesting and all, but I'm pretty sure this means we have some damage control to do guys. There is _no way_ people failed to notice that, it might be a bright and sunny day out, but it's not _that_ sunny."

"Eh, I'm sure it will be fine." He replies flippantly. "We'll abandon the attempt to crack the Sun Stone open for now, go back to the lab and try to scrounge up enough things to let me make another attempt remotely tomorrow. By the time any Protectorate guys arrive, we'll be _long_ gone. Ugh, unfortunately everything we had there is pretty much gone now, I doubt we can salvage anything at _all_. Not like some of the smaller explosions that left us a few bits and pieces."

"If you need me to pick up anything the lab is missing, let me know. I can hit the usual places for stuff tonight, since our schedule has suddenly opened up a bit."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll make a list."

"I hope by 'hit' you mean buy or scrounge, not steal?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"Errr... oops. Uh, does taking things no-one wants anymore but is too much of a hoarder to throw anything away count as stealing?"

That is actually a good question...

"I'm not saying _no_ right away, but I'm gonna need a bit more context than that guys, or else I'll have to assume the worst and stop this possible criminal stuff."

"Well, the University tends to keep lots of stuff lying around, ancient computers, components, stuff that was once worth thousands of dollars and is now worthless. But because it's listed as having been bought for a bunch of cash, they can't bring themselves to throw it away. Instead it accumulates in offices, storage rooms, ect. They have a serious hoarding problem, and we just 'help' a bit, here and there. Seriously, my own office has these ancient, crappy solar panels that have been lying against the wall for _years_ now. No clue who owns them, or if anyone is ever going to do anything with them. They were there when I moved in, and will likely stay when I move out. I nabbed a few to power the lights in the workout-ship, but no-one ever noticed."

He shrugs as I consider this. To be fair, if no-one is using these things and simply refuses to throw it away, it's _almost_ like trash. And we _do_ need the 'Sun Stone' thing to make a power source for fighting Endbringers, so it's going to a good cause. _And_ liberating hoarded wealth to get it circulating again is part of the Movements whole philosophy...

I give in and nod. "Ok, fine. Just don't take something if you aren't _completely_ sure its obsolete or abandoned, we don't want to ruin someones experiment or project."

"Got it bossman!" Illuminator cheers.

"Awesome, then we're good to go. We can continue this lesson tomorrow, we ought to leave here asap."

"Yeah, too bad though. It was getting really good! Much more interesting than the stuff about the foundation of the USA."

"Yup. Although it's still important to know, it sets up the entire rest of the Geo-political situation that we find ourselves in today."

"I know, I know. It just lacks the excitement of powers."

I smile at him and grab the egg, careful not to tear loose any panels or pull on any of the thick bundles of wires. I know it's managed to survive unharmed underwater for a few years, but I still want to be careful.

Herald fires up his flight-pack and takes to the sky. I follow him by teleporting into the air, filling my wing-cape with air and gliding along behind him. As we head toward land, I can see Illuminator's little dinky speedboat below us, heading towards shore as well.

Since the ship graveyard is to the north of the city, we have a narrow area of land to aim for to get into the familiar docks area and back to the lab. We don't want to veer to the south or else we will be noticed by people wandering the boardwalk, possibly intercepted by curious Protectorate or Wards, but to the north is nothing but wilderness and farmland, along with the Trainyard. That's Merchant territory and not even _close_ to the lab's sewer entrance.

It's just too bad that the Docks is infested with ABB. One day I'll drive them out and reclaim it for the honest, hardworking dockworkers and their families. One day...

I'm distracted out of my introspection a few minutes later by Illuminator. "Uhh, guys? Can you double back and come get me? I kind of stumbled on some trouble and it would be nice to have help. I'm a bit outnumbered here."

Well, shit. "Sorry, we're on our way. That's my bad, I should have sent a self to tag along with you."

"Nah, it's my fault. I figured I could sneak through stealthily on my own so I didn't bother mentioning anything. It might have worked, cept they saw me getting out of the boat, and there's only so much you can do to be sneaky when you are puttering in on a speedboat. Just my bad luck they were in the right spot to see me."

I hear a popping noise and Illuminator's voice changes, I can tell he is speaking out loud to whoever is giving him trouble. "You didn't really think that would work did you? It would be better if you just ran now, before I have to get serious."

"What are you facing?" Mark asks in concern.

"Five ABB blocking my path, a sixth ran off, presumably to get help. Guns, knives, one grenade, looks non-standard. So far they are hesitating, no doubt held back by my awesomeness, but probably because I look like a new cape and only an idiot runs face first at an unknown power. My light-show helps, as does the fact that I've already taken one bullet to the chest and didn't fall down bleeding or dying."

"You've already been shot at?" I yelp, shocked that he's taking it so calmly. That must have been what that noise was!

"Yup. It's gonna be a lovely bruise in the morning, but I'll live. Just hurry the fuck up!"

"Coming, coming!" I say as I cascade out into a full five selves, concern for him sending me out in a frantic search pattern, burning energy fast. The area right by shore is a maze of abandoned shipping containers, wrecked boats, and warehouses, and it takes me a few long seconds to find him.

One self spots a faint glow, as I cascade toward it I spot the speedboat pulled up to shore and tucked up against a derelict wooden dock. Then there is Illuminator, hair and tie glowing, and two bright objects in each of his hands. He is facing five Asians who are wearing the usual red and green colors of the ABB. They are spread out in a loose arc around him, maybe 6 ft away from him, blocking him from going anywhere. But while they have weapons in hand, guns and knives, they are still hesitating to rush Illuminator and test out his powers firsthand.

Illuminator has a cocky grin on his face and is trying his best to act nonchalant as he waits for help. "Last chance to avoid trouble..."

I carefully set the egg down on a nearby roof, then pull out my baton and turn it on. It sparks briefly with a satisfying crackle, and I tense. With this self as the new Prime, I cascade a bunch of selves out among the ABB.

"Too late!" Four of me shout as we swing our weapons. I prioritize the three who have a gun out, standing between them and Illuminator. Two manage to get shots off, but only one bullet hits me. I ignore the feeling of being hit with a baseball bat in the chest in favour of cracking his wrist with my baton. Can't shoot with a broken hand, asshole!

I connect with a thugs face, and he is now jerking and twisting on the ground. My new and improved perma-taser sends his muscles twitching, and I keep the baton on him so he doesn't get a chance to recover. Another self gets elbowed in the face, but grazes the fool who thought that wearing a sleeveless shirt would be a good idea. He twitches back enough to give me some breathing room, and I send a new self behind him to get him in a choke-hold with the baton. He drops fast, and I use my last self to fend off the third gun guy, lunging out and forcing him to back away as he shoots at me poorly.

Illuminator has almost finished diving away from the fight, moving to scramble hastily towards a pile of scrap metal. Good, he should have some cover there.

I ignore the attempts by the two knife guys to slash and stab at me, they can't get past my costume, and I can ignore the brief pain from the impacts. I'm busy getting zip-ties on the two I have down on the ground, making sure they can't rejoin the fight once I'm done with them. It gets a bit difficult as they switch to grappling techniques and I have to keep teleporting out of their grabs, but I eventually get one guy restrained and use the two freed selves to get them to back off.

I'm hitting them with my baton as they try to grapple the selves I have wielding the zip-ties, and by now the thugs have abandoned all thoughts of shooting or stabbing me. The only thing that has worked to even slow me down has been grapples, and I can see that I'm going to have to work on learning to deal with this better.

Thugs end up sprawling all over as they get shocked for a few seconds, one after the other. They can't keep up to my rapid fire teleports, turning around to punch me, only for that self to melt away as I am already off to the side tasering their friend. I have two down and tied up now, so it's much easier to deal with the last three. I suppose being outnumbered is a pain, even for me.

I shortly manage to have all five down and tied up, and I quickly go check on Illuminator. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Bit more excitement today than I was hoping for, but oh well, such is my luck."

We are ignoring the loud curses from the thugs as they wriggle on the ground, trying to get at their dropped knives. I do however spot what they are trying, and send a self over to pick up the blades and toss them into the water. Then I do the same with the guns, as I've got no use for such lethal weapons. I decide to keep the odd looking grenade, since it might be useful for the guys to examine it later, it looks like it might be Tinker-Tech. I suppose I should be glad that they never had a chance to use it.

Herald asks, "So I take it you're done? Man, I miss out on all the fun with you around Messenger, you're too fast!"

"Yup. Got five lovely ABB prisoners too. I suppose we should call it in?"

"Actually, that might _not_ be a good idea. We'd have to stick around to give them a statement that they attacked us, or else the goons will just get let go after the 24 holding period. Sticking around means the Protectorate will find us a bit close to the site of the recent explosion, and ask _all sorts_ of questions we don't want to answer."

"Hmm, you have a point, but I don't like letting thugs go free. I wish there was a better way..."

"Well, unless you want to cripple them so they can never fight again...?"

I look at Illuminator horrified, "What?"

"Hey, just a suggestion."

"Kind of a _villainous_ one!"

"Ok, ok, no maiming. We can settle for humiliation, as I'm sure they'll get made fun of later when their buddies find them tied up like this."

I make a new self in front of him and put my hands on my hips.

"That's much better. No going evil on us." I scold him playfully.

My Prime up on the roof notices movement down below, and I send out a few selves to investigate discreetly from shadowy vantage points. I see a few more thugs running down the main road towards us, along with a man I _immediately_ recognize from photos online. He has an ornate metal mask that is shaped to look like a snarling Chinese dragons face, and lacks a shirt. Instead he shows off intricate tattoos of dragons spiraling up and down his arms and across his front and back.

"Lung." I whisper with a shiver of fear.

"Shit!" Comes simultaneous cursing from both of my teammates.

So much for trying to keep a low profile. I suppose it makes sense, he'd want to investigate an explosion near his territory, and the thug that ran away must have gone to fetch him. Too bad for us, this could go very wrong, very fast. We don't even have any serious weapons yet! Nothing that could possibly take out a man who once went toe to toe with Leviathan itself!

This guys power _literally_ transforms him into a dragon over time, the longer a fight goes on, the stronger he gets. He is pretty much the sole reason the ABB holds as much territory as the E88, despite the Empire having almost a dozen capes, and the ABB having only two.

I send a new self down to Illuminator, replacing the one about to expire. "Ok, I'll distract him, you run. That seem like a good plan to you?"

"Yeah, I like that plan, I like it quite a bit." He snaps off the glowing objects in his hands, and shoves them back in his deep pockets.

"Ok, only one way out of here right now, and unfortunately it gets us close to him. If you run, we can get to an intersection fast, then you can get away to the side. Herald, I'm sure you'll find us once fire starts shooting around, how far are you?"

"Not too far. I'm pretty much at the shore now, I'm just having trouble finding you guys in this maze."

"We need to fix that later. You not being able to find me once I've gone ahead of you is a pain."

"Agreed."

I lead the way with teleports and Illuminator follows. He's already panting a bit as he reaches the intersection, and we come face to face with Lung for the first time.

Both of our groups hesitate for a second, then Lung growls out, "So, you are the one who Kumo is displeased with. You have interfered with our attempts to put down a few pests that have been bothering us, insulting us. And now I find that you are drawing attention to my territory, causing explosions? Am I to take this as a declaration of war?"

I cascade out to have three selves facing Lung, and sub-vocalize to Illuminator with one self, "Ok, go to the left. That path is clear of thugs, and you can make your way to the lab from there. I'll hold his attention."

Almost as soon as I'm done giving him instructions, I pull out whatever bits of courage I have and tell Lung, "I will _always_ interfere to save lives that I deem worth saving. It was nothing personal, and no insult was intended, but if you choose to take it as one, I cannot stop you."

I don't say anything about the explosion, since I'm not sure yet if we want to own up to it later, or leave it a mystery. Meanwhile, Illuminator starts edging left, behind the wall I've made of myself.

Lung gives out a full bodied laugh and declares, "If you wish to stop me from trying to kill anyone I desire to kill, you must prove yourself stronger than me. It is the way of the world, the strong can do what they want, and I doubt _you_ , little boy, can stop me."

With that, he motions to his minions, "Get the fools who are no doubt unconscious, and leave. I have an upstart to put in his place."

He grins and starts to stalk towards us, so I take the initiative and cascade forward, melting my initial screen of selves and lashing out at him from all sides with my baton. Electricity crackles and his muscles twitch briefly, but he fails to be stopped for more than a few seconds, even with four selves constantly hitting him with my tasers. He lashes out, punching and kneeing me, ripping the batons out of my hands and snapping them in half. He chuckles and heads to the left, as if he will go after Illuminator.

Illuminator is running down the street now, ignored by the thugs who hurry to obey their leader. I let them go by, as now that I have to fight Lung, I'd rather not have anyone nearby be unable to run away if things go bad.

I _won't_ let him get my friend, so I send in more waves, endlessly shocking him, tripping him, weighing down his limbs and stalling his forward movement. Lung has grown almost half a foot in height when scales erupt from his skin and seem to mitigate the electrical effect. Damn.

With more muscle control, Lung casually backhands one self in front of him, knocking my teeth out, as well as dislocating my jaw. I melt and send in more, hitting him as hard as I can with my batons. He ignores my blows, along with a few experimental stabs I try to inflict upon his back. Ok, time to try something a bit more serious.

Newly positioned selves grab his arms in hugs to stop them from interfering, as another self shoves my gauntlet in his face and triggers a fireball into the mouth of his mask. It doesn't backfire, and flame blossoms all around his head, a direct hit on his face beneath the mask!

He lets out a yell of pain, and claws rip my selves apart as he bursts into a frenzy of motion. I'm forced back briefly, but then send in more selves to repeat the trick. Fire all around him, burning his scales, his skin, his face and eyes. I see his scales slowly grow metallic and start to resist being melted, and my flame is met with his own as he spits a gob of fire at a self that was about to shove more fire down his throat. He's clearly getting some kind of ability to control flames, as he turns my flames against me, my own fire sweeping over all the selves I had in range of him.

I hiss in pain and send more selves in. I have to hurt him enough to stop him, or else he will just keep on trying to kill the _stupid_ Undersiders. The idiots decided to poke a dragon, and it is _extremely_ unfair that I have to deal with it. If Lung only respects strength, then I'll show him strength!

Since my fire won't work anymore, I shove an entire can of pepper-spray in his mouth as he breathes another gout of fire at me, withstanding the pain and burning, letting that self suffer so that the effect will continue to pain him. The can explodes as planned, and he is sent stumbling and coughing away from me, as the sensitive parts of his face seem to be affected by the chemicals.

As Lung staggers, Herald comes down out of the sky like an avenging angel, slamming into Lung's head with his boots and forcing his neck to the side at a gruesome angle that in anyone else, I'd say would be a fatal blow.

In a single smooth action, Herald ices down Lung with the ice gauntlet, the counterpart to my own and a legacy from some elemental themed game. Ice gathers on his limbs, slowing him down and putting out the flames that had been winding around him like playful serpents.

It seems like the ice backfires a bit as it also starts to creep up Heralds arm, but it's something he knows how to work around apparently, as he flexes his arm and cracks the ice repeatedly before it has a chance to get too thick. Herald swears under his breath, but it's still audible to me over the comms. "Donkey-balls that's cold."

I want to cheer, but I'm too busy setting up my next plan. I've retrieved the odd grenade that one of the ABB had, and I figure it's time for a bit of field testing.

"Back!" I shout at him, and Herald obliges me by flying back and up, out of range of Lungs furious swipes. As Lungs neck cracks back into place, healing slowly, I jump in and pull the grenades pin, using the few grapple techniques I know to keep myself on Lung.

After four seconds of enduring a mauling, just when I'm starting to think that my afterimages wont last long enough to let the grenade go off, they finally detonate. Only two selves are still close to Lung, as he had ripped the other two off him and thrown them into the ground, breaking their backs and shattering most of the bones in their bodies.

As my Prime observes the resulting explosion, I get conclusive confirmation that these are Tinker-Tech, as the result is decidedly _not_ standard. A cloud of greenish gas emits from the device and it starts to coat my skin. It is _incredibly_ painful, more than anything else I've felt so far, worse than any flame.

My selves immediately melt into ash, as even a few droplets of the stuff on my face _races_ through my nerve endings and renders me completely useless. Even my Prime self is unable to do anything else but scream for a few long seconds as I recover from the pain.

As the selves melt, so does the gas, and Lung recovers from his own gas induced agony. He growls, a much more animalistic sound than before, and I notice him looking up right at me on the roof. Eep!

He seems to have recovered more swiftly than me, before I have quite finished registering this turn of events, he is already leaping into the air with an impressive jump, aimed right at me.

I teleport away into the air just before he can hit me, and I quickly cascade out to give him more targets to aim for and buy me time.

Lung seems to have transformed much faster while under the effects of that gas bomb, and given it's effects on me? I'm _never_ touching that thing again, it's _evil_. Who in their right mind would make a bomb that's only designed to cause pain?

Shaking the thought off, I focus on the fight. Lung is now impressively strong, covered in metallic scales, and spitting very well aimed gobs of fire at me, at the same time as he is leaping up to rip me into pieces. _Literally_.

I underestimate how high he can jump in the initial few seconds of confusion, and the self he grabs at the height of his leap is ripped apart, arms and legs torn painfully off before I melt away.

Ok, so no more fire gauntlet, ice gauntlet is mostly no good at this point, too strong to beat up anymore, even Herald is unlikely to do any serious damage physically. Problems, problems, problems, but where are my solutions?

I cast my eyes about desperately for a way to still win this, even as I futilely distract him by throwing myself at him one at a time to be shredded, burned and killed.

Panic.

Fleeing thugs stumbling along below us down the main road, a few homeless people being warned off by the sounds of mayhem and destruction and also leaving the area. Not useful.

Herald is hovering in the air far above, out of range of the fight. He's wisely being more sensible than I am, since he lacks my ability to take the hits. I'm sure his costume could withstand a bit of the fire and the claws, but at this point Lung could simply _bludgeon_ Herald to death. Herald's new weapon is almost done, but even had it been finished, I doubt it would have helped today.

The egg is on the nearby rooftop, lost and forgotten. Shit, I forgot about it! If Lung had spotted it and tried to attack, it could have... Oh, now _that_ is an idea. I grin nastily to myself.

"Herald, I have a plan. You need to go looking for anyone nearby, make sure people are evacuating. I'm going to retreat towards the water and get Lung to follow. Illuminator, how much damage do you think it would take to get the 'Sun Stone' to do a repeat performance?"

"You aren't seriously thinking of setting it off on _purpose_ are you?" He asks incredulously.

"Why not? We need to put Lung down hard, and if we wait too long he'll be unstoppable."

"I must admit, I'm a _bit_ leery of this plan, there's a good chance he could be killed if we misjudge his ability to withstand it. I'd rather not be known so soon in my career as a hero as one who kills villains."

It's nice of him to include himself in that scenario, but we both know that it would be _me_ making the call, thus I'd be the one responsible for any deaths.

"I think I know of a good way to prevent that, I just have to let him get a bit stronger so he can survive, but not ignore it."

"It's incredibly risky, but it's up to you Messenger. You only have to crack the casing deeply in the right spots, or sever the wires that are wrapped around it. It's not too hard to destroy the containment if you try."

"Ok, thanks. Now move it guys, get out of here and make sure to warn anyone else you see. I plan to keep it contained, but I want to be safe, not sorry."

With that, I change strategies once more. Prime me is still flying high above the fight, observing, gliding down, and teleporting back up periodically for a better view or angle, but the rest of my selves start to get more provoking.

"Come on Lung, is that the best you can do? You can't even kill my afterimages properly! Go on, try harder, maybe if you are fast enough, you can rip a head off!"

His mask has merged with his face now, and he is truly not human any longer. Lung's limbs are starting to twist and distort, lengthening out, and I can see two short bumps slowly swelling on his back. I had heard he could grow wings, but luckily it seems like it's taking a while to develop. Good, I didn't want him to be able to get at me easily.

My taunting and constant movement seems to make him more and more angry, as he fails to land a significant blow. I can't kill him, but he also can't kill me. Stalemate.

In the confusion, he barely notices that I'm leading him towards the water, as I keep him constantly turning around to deal with my selves. I keep using the pepper-sprays for as long as they seem effective, sometimes literally shoving them into his mouth and allowing him to bite off my arm in exchange for giving him a good dose. He quickly learns not to use fire when I do that, or else the can explodes and it's even worse for him.

I suppose his power can't easily protect the inside of him, but he does seem to be reacting less and less as time goes on. He must be adapting.

As we reach the shore, I try to taunt him out into the water after me, but that must have tipped my hand and made it obvious that I was luring him. Lung spits to the side in disgust after yet another one of these peppery assaults, "Uk, ew." He turns as if to go, ignoring me.

Shit, I know I said I'd never use the evil grenade again, but I think I have to! I try to be careful, pulling the pins as soon as the selves appear, then throwing them around Lung leaving him surrounded. He lashes out and kicks a few away with contempt, but the selves that threw them melt away. I replace the grenades with new fresh ones from new selves.

Eventually he isn't fast enough and one goes off, surrounding him with gas. I'm safely out of its range this time, and thankful for it as he bellows and screeches in pain. I can see that the nubs on his back are swelling upward, growing much faster now, however I doubt they will be big enough to support him in time.

He seems to realize this too, as he backs away into the water, retreating from the cloud of gas that I keep creating over and over again.

Almost as soon as he is fully immersed, he seems to be in less pain, the water must be washing off the pain stuff, or countering it somehow. He turns to me in renewed fury, thoughts of walking away burned from his head. Torrents of fire spew towards me, in wide, punishing arcs. The flames are bluer and hotter than before, and my costume's wings start to melt from even being _close_ to the flames.

He takes advantage of this, knocking my selves out of the sky almost as soon as I form them, outer layer of costume melting around me, burning and barely able to inhale the scorched air.

Good! I think it's time, he can _probably_ survive being hit by a sun now.

Prime self sends out a new me to fetch the egg, and with a mental switch, the new Prime up high is now clutching it tightly along with my emergency knife.

I send down a new self, right on Lung's back. As I appear, I stab the egg with my knife, trying to sever a cable or crack open a plate. Lung seems to realize something is wrong as he turns his head on a long, serpentine neck, to look right at me. As his eyes widen, I finally get my knife into a seam and pry open a panel.

I get a brief look at a glowing, hot, perfect, miniature sun. Complete with little solar flares, mottled spots on its surface, and what looks like fire dancing across its surface in a pattern similar to an aurora.

Pretty.

Then it expands and my world is fire. Heat. Boiling, charring, crushing, bones popping from steam escaping, and death.

True death.

As my brain is boiled and shriveled in my skull, I die and calm descends upon me. Most of the other selves I had near Lung are also killed instantly, and the few who survived I dissolve. They are of little matter now.

I witness the miniature sun bloom right on the edge of the shore, melting the earth and sand, the buildings and junk nearby, boiling the ocean. It only lasts for a fragment of a second before I dissolve what was left of my suicide bombing corpse. I had hoped the sun would have less chance of doing serious damage if I let it live for only a brief, fraction of a second. I was ready this time, waiting for the right moment to cut off the blossoming sun.

I see Lung below me in the water, mostly intact, and I send selves down to him, still holding their egg's in one hand, knives in the other. As I get closer to him, I see his skin and scales have been burned off, raw skin and muscles exposed and blackened. His lower half seems less damaged, no doubt because it was deeper in the water. Red is predominantly his colour now, and for a second I am afraid that I've killed him, but then he twitches. Growling in agony or anger, there is no way to tell.

I drop my eggs and knives and pull out yet more pepper spray, dousing his raw, exposed flesh with a thick coating.

I doubt it will help, but more selves tie his hands and feet together with zip-ties, having to be careful of his twitching, bleeding thrashing. Even weakened like this, he can still crush me easily if he gets hold of me.

A fresh new wave of selves, and I gouge out his eyes with my knife so he can't target me easily, I know he can easily grow them back so it won't be much of a setback for him. I also remove a few things that look like organs in the hopes that it will slow him down, as he has to fix that before continuing to grow bigger and stronger.

Already he seems to be more aware, regenerating his skin and flesh, regrowing the fingers, ears and other extremities that were completely burned off. I worry, as I don't want to risk hitting him with the sun again. My minds _think_.

Chemicals seem to affect him still, internals more than externals, he's shrunk quite a bit while he is busy fixing his internals, so he will have to ramp up to his previous strength all over again. Pain and anger speed him up, he has good senses while more advanced.

So, I simply have to put him to sleep or drug him, or else he will _never_ stop fighting. _L_ _ovely_.

"Illuminator, Herald, I need to know about tranquilizers. I need something that I can pump Lung full of, to get him to go to sleep and stop fighting."

I split up, sending selves leapfrogging across the sky while I keep a watchful eye on Lung as he continues to regenerate. It seems to slow a bit as I don't keep fighting him or do anything harmful to him, but not enough to matter. His skin finally seals over and sprouts scales, halfway to being metallic once more. He heaves and breaks the zip-ties with a single jerk of his body, then stands up, still blind for now.

With a sniff of the air, he turns to the nearest self and pounces, clumsily, but still accurately ripping my guts out across the melted, glassy beach. I let him, giving him new selves to play with as I race across the city with my other selves. The egg has been safely deposited on top of a distant shipping container, so it's well out of danger for now.

I really like true deaths. Everything is just so much more clear, calm, and controlled when I've properly died.

"I think I know what you might need, but you will have to find a veterinarian's office, they tend to have the stuff to put down large animals for surgery." Mark responds uncertainly.

"Looking for one right now. Do you know the name of what I'm looking for?"

"Sorry, I can't remember what it's called, just tell them that you need something strong for a villain and get whatever they recommend."

I nod to myself and reply with a simple, "Ok. Stick around. I think I'll need you later, but keep back for now."

Lung is almost fully recovered by the time I spot what I'm looking for north of downtown. I send a self into the office, startling the receptionist.

"I need to speak with a doctor, _immediately_."

"Uh, you know we're animal doctors, right?"

"Yes, I do. Please, this is urgent."

I send a new self to the side of the one that just spoke, making her eyes widen as she darts into the back. I eye a nearby lady with a cat in a carrier, as she eyes me back, but I continue shifting back and forth with my two afterimages as I wait.

Back at the docks, Lung has finally regrown new eyes and glares at me with renewed hatred. He growls something at me, but its completely indecipherable, his transformation too far gone.

"If you surrender now, I won't be forced to do that again."

I know he won't surrender, I'm simply buying time. He launches himself at me with two pillars of flame pouring from his clawed feet, this time propelling himself into the air with his fire instead of using it as a weapon against me. I'm caught off guard by the new use for his ability, as he goes straight to the Prime I have tucked away safely high in the sky. However I have a full five selves out, even if two are waiting for the veterinarian to show up, so my reactions are much quicker than the last time he surprised me.

I teleport away easily, towards the ocean and luring him further out. This time he takes the bait, heading out away from the shore over the water he had refused to enter before. I only have three selves to distract him with this time, so I must adapt my strategy yet again. I have no Prime now, as each self is always teleporting, constantly shifting position. I wheel across the sky, up high, down low, skimming the water, then darting by him tauntingly as he struggles to change course fast enough to catch any of me.

He sometimes lashes out with fire, but it drops his altitude alarmingly when he takes the time to attack. I let him catch the occasional self to distract him further as I dart around him, constantly trying to avoid triggering his power into making him stronger, but still keeping his interest on fighting me, not fleeing.

Finally the vet shows up. "How may I help you...?"

"Messenger. I'm here because my team and I are currently fighting Lung, and we have noticed an opportunity to capture him and give him into the PRT's custody. However we need to counter his power, and a sedative is needed."

I teleport to the side, refreshing my selves as the one speaking was about to expire.

"Something strong, for large animals, and we will need lots of it, to counter his regenerative effect. I have some cash on me now, but if it's not enough, I can return later to pay you the rest of what it will cost. This opportunity will not be available much longer, so I've been sent to quickly find what we need. If you can't or won't help, please at least tell me if you know someone who _can_. This could save a _lot_ of lives."

His confusion turns into amazement, and he scratches his beard speculatively as he lowers his voice. "Well, strictly speaking, I can't _sell_ this stuff, especially since you don't have a medical license. There might be problems with dosage too, you could kill him if you give him too much. But _hypothetically_ speaking, if a box of Sodium Thiopental _happened_ to be expired or ruined by improper storage, and just _thrown_ out... I can't stop you from going through the bio-hazard bin, and whatever consequences arose from it would be _not_ my fault, nor would we be liable. Of course, having said that, I must refuse your request, I am truly sorry."

I nod at him, "Of course. I thank you for the information, but have to go now, I have little time left."

He nods back at me, and walks quickly to the back offices. I teleport outside and around the building, to wait by the back in the hope that he was implying what I thought he was implying.

Barely a minute later, I see him open the rear door, put a small cardboard box down on the concrete steps, deliberately not looking at me and whistling a jaunty tune. Then he turns and goes back inside, closing the door behind him.

I port in and grab the box, then fling the self with the box to a nearby rooftop in the docks, one that I can barely see from my position out on the ocean.

I pause to read the note he wrote on the top in marker. "One full bottle is enough to knock out your average elephant. Use accordingly. Also, if I could get $1000 so that I can replace these before my boss finds out, that would be nice."

Huh, I'm going to have to remember the address of that guy, just in case we ever need more of this on short notice. That and so I can pay him back, he _is_ taking a risk helping me like this.

I open the loose top and pull out a vial, noticing that there is a large syringe wrapped in plastic too. Two more vials fill the box, and that's all there is. If they don't work, I'm out of ideas that won't kill him or let him go free. I fill the syringe up completely, not bothering to be careful about air bubbles. My selves out on the water get ready as I prepare for the mental gymnastics this is going to require.

First one self grabs the egg, cascading out copies while my Prime waits with the drugs. Then as three continue to harry Lung, a fourth self drops the egg off by me so that I can grab it for permanence. I put one foot on it and make a new self, one who is anchoring both sets of items, then I unleash the fury of a miniature sun on Lung.

Burning pain once again kills me, destroying me utterly. I'm a bit further from Lung as he had attempted to flee when he saw me with the egg, so I let my corpse persist for longer then last time. Since we are in the air, the sun can blossom more fully, with no water or steam to obscure the view. It expands rapidly, growing larger and larger, brighter and brighter, until I judge it has been long enough and dismiss it once again. I'm left with only the self with an intact egg and the box of drugs.

"Herald, we need to find Lung and get him out of the water fast. Go!"

I take action to suit my words, teleporting out to where I was last, looking for a body below me in the water. I barely spot him, he's much more damaged than before. I think I might have misjudged the danger of the sun with no water around him to mitigate it.

"Found him!" I shout, circling around his location with a few selves. I won't be able to move him on my own, even with the damage he's taken, Lung is _much_ more massive than me. But I know I can rely on Herald, and I am not disappointed as he swoops in from the shore, diving down and letting gravity help speed him up. He's moving fast enough that I know he is using both gravity manipulators. I'm not sure it's worth the risk, but to be fair, we are fighting _Lung._

Herald slows down enough to avoid smacking into the water, and hauls out a soaking wet, charred, raw, red and bleeding, half-dragon, half-man _thing_. He begins flying towards shore, and I set up right there on the glassy dirt, getting ready for his arrival. As soon as Herald dumps Lungs body on the ground, I pass him the syringe.

"This is enough for an elephant, so hopefully enough for him. I'm sure you know how to use it better than me, so go for it."

To his credit, he only hesitates for a second before kneeling down to find a suitable spot to inject it.

"Ok, so the risk with this kind of thing is it will still take a few minutes to work, since it's a real drug and not Tinker crap. If I used too much, he will likely stop being able to breathe on his own, and I'll have to use CPR. Although given that he has a muzzle right now, I think I'd end up cutting a hole in his trachea instead. If I _really_ used too much, he might simply die as his heart stops pumping entirely. Might be fixable temporarily, but doubtful."

"So we wait?"

He nods, "We wait."

I watch closely as Lung breathes in and out painfully, slowly healing, slowly repairing his wounded flesh. Herald holds him down when he finally recovers enough to thrash around, getting around the problem of fire breathing and nasty claws by holding Lung from behind in some kind of complicated grappling move. Herald keeps calm, responding perfectly to each twitch Lung makes but offering no further violence. Not stopping until Lung starts to lose energy and calm down, even as he glares at us with reptilian eyes.

Eventually Lung can't keep his eyes open any longer, and he seems to pass out. His regeneration is slowing dramatically now, and I'm a bit worried he won't have enough power to finish fixing himself, let alone fight off the sedative.

"I think perhaps we gave him too much." I warn Herald as I bend over to zip-tie Lung's arms and legs once more.

"Yeah, I'm a bit worried by how little he is healing now. He's replaced most of the basic structure, but the skin and lower fat layers are still _completely_ missing. Speaking of, how are you _not_ vomiting right now? I'm using a mental trick but it's _still_ almost more than I can bear to look at."

Oh, yes, now that he mentions it, Lung's body _is_ somewhat disgusting looking right now. Interesting. I must feel less disgust along with less pain in this mental state.

"It looks like the same death effect that gives me calmness and reduces my pain, also dampens my ability to be disgusted. Probably useful for a fight like this where we have to go all out."

He gives me a hard to interpret look, then shakes his head and goes back to monitoring Lung's vital signs.

Illuminator speaks up, "If he's that gross, I kinda wish we had pictures, or video. I bet that fight looked _amazing_."

"You can look up pictures of burn victims online if you really feel the need to be a vulture Le-Illuminator." Herald shakes his head and sighs.

"Bad?" I ask with concern. I can't spare much sympathy for the leader of a notorious gang, but I still don't want him to _die_.

"Yeah, it looks like he's almost done fixing himself, but the rate of progress is _incredibly_ slow. I wouldn't want to move him, or even call in the PRT, until I'm sure he's stable or recovering."

I nod, but lack anything productive to say. My choices led us here, and now I get to see what happens because of it.

A few minutes pass and I watch his breathing get slower and slower, his skin slowly forms and creeps across his body, finally covering his vulnerable flesh a millimeter at a time. I only realize that I've been breathing in sync with Lung when I notice that I haven't taken a breath in quite a while, and neither has he. With a sudden intake of much needed air, I look at Herald.

He looks right back at me, blue eyes almost grey from fear, and nods. At least _he_ was prepared. I was instead passively watching a man die slowly, right in front of me. Am I turning into a monster? I idly wonder, but then dismiss the thought. No, Lung brought this on himself.

Plunging a small thin knife down into Lung's throat, Herald opens up a small hole. He uses a finger to widen it, then carefully inserts the shell of a pen into the hole. Leaning over, he breathes into it, and I watch Lungs chest rise. As Herald pulls his head back, Lung's chest deflates on it's own, forcing the air out. He repeats this every five seconds, over and over again for a solid minute before he stops and looks up at me.

"Can you take over for a bit? I need to check his pulse and pupils."

Nodding, I kneel down and take his place. Breathe out, wait five seconds, breathe out. On and on I go, determined to keep him alive. It feels like eternity has passed, when Lung suddenly breathes in himself once again.

I can't help myself as I collapse backwards and giggle with relief. "He's breathing!"

"Thank fuck! I kept waiting for his heart to stop, dreading it since I don't think I could save him from that, but it looks like the worst must be over."

He reaches over and pulls the pen out of Lungs neck, frowning at the faint trickle of blood.

I try to reassure him. "It worked, thanks to you. I'll call the PRT now that he's recovering. We can safely turn him over, go home, and call this a day. "

"A very interesting day!" Illuminator adds cheerfully. "Oh and speaking of, I know you are all busy celebrating not killing the villain and all, but don't forget to drop the 'Sun Stone' off at the lab sometime. I'm almost there, so I'm going to get to work on preparing for tomorrow."

Right, the dangerous exploding object should probably be put away, not left lying around. I split off and grab the egg, teleporting toward the section of the city the lab is in. I'm about to make a call to the PRT with my Prime, when a Protectorate hero suddenly arrives in a burst of speed.

A petite female with a black, skintight costume is standing beside us, arms folded and serious expression on her face under a blue visor as she takes int he scene. Her costume has an intricate blue circuit-board pattern dancing across it, and I recognize her as one of the local Protectorate hero's, Battery. Sizing her up as I slowly put my phone away, I realize that I'm taller than her. Huh, I wasn't expecting that.

Behind her comes a man in a red, sleek costume, red visor over his eyes that matches hers. This must be Assault, her teammate. These two were always paired together for patrols, and the PHO forum was pretty sure that they were either dating, married, or siblings. He approaches with large, smooth leaps that eat up the distance, as each step of his propels him off the ground in a physics defying way. He is grinning widely, as if he enjoys every minute of using his power.

"I do hope that he is still alive?" Battery asks sternly as she looks down at Lungs body, still missing a few patches of skin and blood dripping from his slowly healing neck.

"He is indeed alive milady, although I do apologize for his state. I did not anticipate having to entertain guests so soon, and our poor draconic friend here is just a touch unclothed."

Battery blushes faintly as Assault replies, "Yup, his _everything_ is showing alright. You miiiight want to get him some pants or something."

I quickly teleport over and drop an empty trash bag over the lower half of Lung. It's not terribly hygienic, but it's the best I can do on short notice.

Battery shakes her head and starts asking questions, "What happened?"

"We were out for a stroll when we encountered a dragon. He did not wish us to pass peacefully, so we proceeded to trounce him to within an inch of his life. Alas, there seems not to be any treasure to be found, so we were about to call for the authorities to come collect this wayward criminal. Then you and your partner arrived, so it seems as if we won't need to stand about idly much longer."

"I _really_ like this guy." Assault says as he leaps over to stand in front of Herald, sizing him up.

As Battery looks annoyed, Assault attempts to give Herald a fist bump. Herald swiftly returns the gesture, bumping fists with Assault, and he manages to keep up as Assault begins to lead him in an ever more elaborate series of hand gestures and what might possibly be gang signs or patty cake games. By the end of the spectacle, both Battery and I are watching amazed, and I'm wondering at the sanity of the two grown men who seem to have lost their marbles.

"So, now that that's out of the way, I have to ask, how the heck did you actually manage to knock _LUNG_ of all people out?" Assault asks with a grin as he clasps Herald over the shoulder in a comradely way.

"Overwhelming force." Herald replies soberly, with a hint of mischief.

"So then I assume you two are responsible for the _many_ reports of explosions, fountains of water, steam, and fire coming from around here? Starting almost half an hour ago?" Battery asks exasperated.

Herald scratches his cheek and looks over at me for help. I shrug and leave him to do the talking. I'm busy navigating sewers, thank-you very much.

"Yes, we probably are responsible for that." He nods agreeably. "It isn't exactly _easy_ taking out a dragon you know."

She throws her hands up in the air and sighs loudly. "It's another goddamn _Myrddin_."

Assault just grins crookedly at her, then back to us. "As fun as all this is, we _do_ need to get something usable for our reports."

Herald grins back and shrugs, "Fine, we were testing out something we hope will help against Endbringers in the future, it was going poorly, but attracted attention. We used it against Lung when he objected to us leaving, then sedated him so that he will stop getting back up and continue fighting us. If you could take him back with you, that would save us some time and effort. I don't recommend you using any sedatives on him yourself, at least not until he seems to be awake and regenerating properly. He might stop breathing or his heart stop beating if his system has _any_ more stress on it. As it is, he's already had one close call."

Battery looks at us very disapprovingly upon hearing this, "I do hope you don't plan on drugging up every criminal you capture in the future. That's a quick way to end up killing someone."

"Nah." He lazily waves in my direction. "We tend to just taser anyone who we want to capture, like we did with Hellhound. Messenger is very good at that. Problem is it has limited effect on dragons, so we had to improvise."

I have an idea and teleport over to Battery with the empty vial in hand. "Here, so your doctors know what we used."

"Thanks. That's at least _mildly_ helpful."

I nod at her and quickly do the complicated dance of selves that will result in the vial staying in her hand and the exploding egg staying here, as I finally reach the lab and wave hello to Illuminator.

"Where do you want this?" I ask him.

"Oh, put it over there for now." He waves to an empty spot on a messy table full of junk.

"Gonna go now, help Herald with the Protectorate guys interrogating us."

"Ooh, who showed up? I heard the story he was spinning, but without the other side of the conversation, it lacks a certain something."

"Assault and Battery. She seems like a serious sort, but he's about as bad as you two. Somehow Assault and Herald ended up best buddies in less than fifteen seconds, and I have no idea how."

"Huh, neat." Illuminator grins as me as I melt away.

Back at the docks, Battery has been busy calling in a PRT van to pick up Lung, while Assault mostly looks him over and pokes Lung in the face a few times.

"You know, I think he's reverting back. It looks like his mask is coming back out of his skin." Assault mentions curiously.

"Oh? That's interesting." Herald bends over to take a look himself.

Battery finally hangs up her phone and turns back to us. "So, time for the details. Did you two want to be taking credit for this, or did you want to let the Protectorate take the heat for Lungs capture?"

I feel a flash of indignation that I must have shared with Herald, as he lets out a scoff, "Why on earth would we ever let the _Protectorate_ take the credit for our teams actions? Also, you are forgetting our third teammate, Illuminator. He might not be here right now, but he was no less instrumental in this fight than I was."

"Aww, thanks buddy! You're the best too!" Illuminator pipes up through the comms.

"Well aside from the fact that as independents, you are more vulnerable to retaliation, you might not know that Lung recently recruited a new cape, Bakuda. She's a _bomb_ Tinker, and as you can hopefully imagine, could be very dangerous. If she decides to get revenge for her fallen boss, then you being known as the ones to target would put you in danger. The Protectorate is much better situated for handling such threats."

"Yeah, no thanks. Besides, you might not be aware of this, but almost a dozen thugs were sent running by our little fight and are no doubt spreading the tale even now. It would be impossible for you to take the credit, they already know who is to blame. It's nice of you to warn us about the bomb Tinker, but we'll be fine. You just do _your_ jobs and keep Lung locked away properly." He ends with scorn.

Battery just sighs and rubs her head. "Look, I don't know why you got your hackles up, it's just standard procedure to offer to take the danger onto ourselves. But you're right, if thugs escaped, then there is no point to such a deception."

"I think the problem they have is the same one every other independent has. It's all about reputation and street cred in the wild world outside of the Protectorate, and you just offered to steal it away from them. I keep telling people that it's a stupid policy, but they never listen." Assault grins crookedly at us.

"He's right you know." Herald points out helpfully.

"If anything, the fact that they took out Lung might _keep_ them from being attacked by most capes, once it spreads." Assault nods.

"Wow," I sub-vocalize to the team, "It's only hitting now, but we actually took down _Lung_. Lung! This is unbelievable, I... I'm not sure this is real."

"I know right? I mean, holy shitballs it's cool. We frigging took out the dragon of Brockton Bay!"

Herald shoots me a look and mumbles, "Are you two forgetting the pant-shitting terror? The horrid moment where we almost _killed_ him? I'd say this is real alright, since it almost went _incredibly_ wrong."

That sobers me up, especially now that I'm less affected by the death echoes. Looking back on the aftermath of the fight, his charred body straining to take in air, to heal, I can feel the disgust finally welling up. Oh god, and I was so pleased to not be feeling anything, to be able to ignore everything negative. I really _am_ turning into a monster!

"E-excuse me." I mutter to Herald and teleport out into the Bay, onto a rusty shipping container, then to a ship beyond it where the Protectorate hero's can't see me.

Then I proceed to lose the contents of my stomach, vomiting as I remember carving out his eyes, his _organs._ I... I have a problem. Dying, true dying, it removes my judgement, my empathy and emotions. If I'm not careful, who knows what horrible things I could do under it's influence?

I feel an urge to kill myself, to escape the emotional turmoil and go back to the tranquil, analytical state of mind. But I cast it off. _No!_ Not until I figure out a solution to this madness of mine. I shudder and dry-heave, but there is nothing left for me to give back to the ocean.

* * *

AN: Oh and I've done a few edits to the earlier chapters in preparation for NANoWriMo, did em at the end of October, so if you re-read the story and notice a few changes, that is not your imagination. Obviously my story still needs more edits, but for the month of November I'm only writing, not editing. So the next few chapters will probably have lot's of problems, sorry!


	25. Dispatch 3-4

I pace back and forth nervously across the floor of the lab, then look over at Mark and Dominic.

"So what do you think?" I ask nervously.

I've just told them everything, and now I just have to hope that they don't think I'm a monster. Don't abandon me or turn on me...

Like Emma did.

But instead of the unknown reasons that she had for her betrayal, my teammates have a _very_ good reason to not want to work with me anymore. As much as it hurts to think about it, I'd try not to hold it against them. I mean, I've just set them up with a way to make money legitimately, and as long as they kept their new identities on the right side of the law, they would be set for life. They didn't really need me anymore, it would be reasonable to cut ties now.

I think I'd actually feel _more_ guilty if they were forced to deal with my psychopathic tendencies in order to have decent lives. At least this way I'll know the truth about how they really feel.

Dominic and Mark share a glance, before Dominic blurts out, "Fuck, that sucks."

I relax a bit at this typical outburst, yup, that's Dom alright.

"I have to agree, that is an unfortunate side effect of your power. Useful for a life 'n death fight I will admit, it proved effective against Lung after all. But for casual fights and less serious situations, this could be a problem."

"Hey, the chances of someone actually fully killing one of the Messengers in a casual fight are pretty low. Probably less of a problem than you're thinking bro."

Mark gets a thoughtful look, strokes his chin and asks me, "Actually, now that I think about it, I've fully killed you many times during filming or in practice. I know you said it felt like you would do anything to win against Lung, but I've beaten you plenty of times and you never got nasty with me. Perhaps the situation isn't as dire as you think?"

"And you did run from the Simurgh bitch like a sensible person would, instead of going for another rescue. The armband would have killed you if you hadn't retreated, so you _can_ run from a fight you can't win. You don't turn all homicidal and aggressive every time."

They have some good points. I feel my fears lighten as my friends puzzle through this, instead of reacting with fear like I had expected.

I tentatively venture a suggestion, "I'm still certain that I lose most of my empathy, but maybe it also makes me more... logical? I felt guilt at not rescuing one more person, but it was more because I wanted to do better against the Simurgh, I didn't care about the people themselves in that moment. I didn't regret leaving the guy behind until later, when the effect wore off."

"Ok, so it's definitely not just a stab-happy mental effect. You still keep your focus on what you are doing, you just temporarily change how ruthless you are? That seems to fit." Dom nods to himself in satisfaction.

"See, it's not so bad. Disturbing to see in action certainly, but you can tell friend from foe, you still have the same goals. You are just more _direct_ about getting there." Mark make a mollifying gesture.

I can't help but gesture widely as I try to put into words exactly how anxious I am about this whole thing, "But what if I go too far one day? Say my goal is survival against someone I can't fight, and I end up... Uh..." I cast about mentally for a suitably horrifying scenario, "Like taking a few babies hostage to get people to back off, and to prove that I'm willing to do it, I kill one as an example? I really don't know, but that's the most awful thing I can think of right now."

Marks face grows a bit grim, "Ok, fair point. Without normal emotions and empathy, going too far is possible. But I'm not really sure what we can do to stop you if that happens. We might have to simply hope that things never get bad enough that you'd consider such actions reasonable."

"Oooh, or I have a better idea!" Dom declares with a sly grin, "Do you trust us Taylor? Like really trust that we are on your side and won't screw you over?"

"Uhhh..."

I'm not really sure how to answer this question, or what he is implying. I mean, I _want_ to trust them. Every time I open up to them more and give them a chance to betray me, they end up proving me wrong. Helping me keep my identity safe, slowly going from villains to heroes just because of me, helping me deal with my anger at the PRT and my bullies, and now this. I think it's fair to say that they've earned my trust.

The problem is that I still find it hard to trust them, I keep thinking they will end up like my former best friend. Probably not healthy for me to be like this, not able to fully trust my teammates. I don't know if I can give him the answer he wants. I don't even know where he's going with this line of thinking. It sounds kinda sketchy, him asking that kind of question, but I've underestimated him before so maybe I shouldn't jump to conclusions yet.

Mark rolls his eyes at Dom, "You better not be thinking of implanting bombs in her or something dumb like that."

"No! That's fucking stupid, why would you even think that?"

"The whole, 'do you trust us' thing, along with talking about finding ways to stop her if she ever goes too far? Kinda sounds like you thought of some kind of invention to serve as an 'insurance policy'."

In a very indignant tone he replies, "I'll have you know that not _every_ problem can be solved by Tinker shit and blowing things up."

I chime in, "I have to admit, I wasn't sure were you were going with that question, but I'm glad it's not putting a bomb in my head. It did sound a _teensy_ bit like that might have been what you were getting at. What exactly _are_ you thinking of then?"

I'm hoping that he actually has a good idea and it's not something impractical or useless. Or worse, something from a videogame.

He huffs and folds his arms. "I was thinking that evil you is all logical and cold-blooded, but still knows that we are allies. If one of us was nearby and told you to stop, maybe you would listen? Hopefully because you trust us, we're friends, and we wouldn't tell you to stop without good reason. Duh! So if you die, tell us what you plan on doing and communicate more during a fight, that way if we see potential problems, we can tell you no."

Mark and I both stop talking for a few seconds to ponder his idea. Personally I think it's dubious, but at least it's not a horrible idea like I was expecting. I really have to stop underestimating Dominic.

Mark speaks first, "That's not a bad idea, but you're right, it's dependent on how much Taylor is willing to listen to us. What do you think, would it have a chance?"

He looks me in the eyes as he asks that, but the pressure of the question is too much. I break eye contact and look at the ground as I send out a full cascade to help me process everything.

 _Would_ I listen to them? I suppose that if I always have a part of me wanting to work with them, there's a chance that I will, if only to appease them. Even if I see no reason why I should stop doing whatever horrible thing I'm doing, I'd still want to keep them around, keep them liking me. It's pathetic, but I can't delude myself while I'm fully cascaded like this. I'm desperate for friends, for acceptance. I don't want to lose this, these new friends, this team, this life of making a difference, of helping. I like being involved with secret organizations located on the moon, daring plots, exciting fights, heists and multiple cape identities. If that's not reason enough to listen to my teammates when I'm in cold-blooded mode, then I don't think anything is.

I look up and make eye contact again as my other selves melt away, more confident now. "Yeah, I think it's possible. I have trust issues and I can't change that, but I think I trust you guys enough to listen. I like being a part of this team, so I think psycho me will still want that too. I'll try to remember to call out over comms every time I go into 'evil zen mode' from now on, so you'll know when you have to watch me for signs of me getting a bit too ruthless."

"That sounds like a plan then." Mark nods in satisfaction, "I guess that we can consider the problem solved for now, untill we get evidence it's not working. And if that happens, I don't want you blaming yourself or feeling bad about it Taylor. It just means we as a team might have overlooked something and we can come up with something better for next time."

Dom excitedly interrupts, "Oooh, we need a code name or phrase! Like 'Code D', for Death! Or 'Zen State Achieved'. Or perhaps something more subtle like 'Level Up', or 'Warning, Core Unstable.' Oh man, the possibilities!"

"I'm not a robot Dom, or in a video game." I share a smile with Mark as we both listen, amused. After having experienced a few of these, I know that it's best to just let him blabber on and get the ideas out. It's probably a Tinker thing, or a hyper person thing. (I can't be sure.) Dom manages to produce quite a list of phrases before he winds down.

"Hmm, how about I just say something like 'Time to get Serious.' It's something I can say without tipping off anyone listening, and it's true in a way. If I get truly killed, then things are _probably_ pretty serious."

"That works for me."

"Eh, that's kinda a boring one, but ok." Dom makes a silly face at me.

I laugh and stretch a bit as I realize that my muscles have gotten tense from all the stress and don't want to move properly anymore. That's what I get from having poor posture all the time.

"Now that this is taken care of, I better go home. I'll check in on you tomorrow morning to see if we're good to go for more de-building. Oh and incidentally Dom, when you stick a black-hole in that egg thing, you had _better_ make it safer. Ten times safer, minimum. It was _way_ too easy to disrupt that thing into exploding." I give him my best stink-eye.

He hold his hands up defensively, "Ok, ok, I'll add in some stuff to shunt it all into other dimensions if it gets disrupted."

"Other dimensions like Earth Aleph? With people on them?" I raise my eyebrow at him.

"No no! Like unoccupied sub-dimensions. The same place all the gravity is shunted to, it's totally safe. No possible living things will get hurt by it, promise!"

I nod at him, satisfied he isn't going to cause an inter-dimensional accident. I can't believe how weird my life has gotten, that I have to worry about that sort of thing.

Tinkers.

He continues, trying to reassure me, "It's probably for the best, since it will be much more powerful with the re-design. I'll be the first to admit I don't always build the safest things, and we're all pretty lucky that it never broke while it was sitting at the bottom of the ocean."

"Or during the super badass mecha-zilla fight we used it for way back. The Protectorate would have been a _lot_ more hard on us if we had exploded their base during one of our first signature events." Mark adds.

"Ooch, yeah. As is, they still didn't like it much."

"Hey, I remember that one! You set off the Endbringer sirens briefly you asses." I intensify my glare.

"Err, maybe... Oops! In our defense, we were pretty stupid back then. I mean, not shielding the power core, deciding to mock attack the Protectorate's oil rig base just because it would look cool, basically we wanted to show off how big our dicks were."

"Dude," Mark shakes his head. "Language."

"Hey, she said to treat her like one of the guys!"

I sigh, "It true, I did. I'd rather this than the alternative, but I'm still gonna take that as my cue to leave."

Then I get a wicked and cruel idea, and with a sly smirk as I turn to go I say nonchalantly, "I'm gonna get out of here before this descends into a measuring contest and you guys start whipping em out. Ta~!"

I try to hide my grin as I manage to startle a snort of laughter out of Dominic, and he seems to be chocking on air. Unfortunately Mark seems to have taken it better because I don't hear an outburst from him.

"See ya round, Taylor." Mark replies with humor coloring his voice.

Dom doesn't manage to regain his composure before I'm out of there and on my way home.

Time to catch up on my schoolwork and do more studying.

* * *

The next days activities start off as usual with some gym time on the ship. I pop on home after to shower and eat breakfast with dad, having told him that I'm going out 'running' every morning now to cover for the time spent working out. Technically I do _some_ sprinting and running every day, so it's not even a lie.

I've been feeling better lately, more healthy. My potbelly is mostly gone now, so I look less like a walking, talking frog. But I've been gaining a bit of weight despite that, from eating more and building a bit of muscle. It's not visible, but it's there, as the bathroom scale can attest to. I've finally managed to reach 130 lbs, and while it's not much of an improvement for a few months worth of work, it is enough to let me test my power again and see if that increased my limits.

As soon as dad leaves for work, out come the buckets. I fill them with water to the previous limit of 122 lbs and start from there. It works as expected, so I start to add a pound of water at a time.

Soon I reach my new limit, 128 lbs.

128 lbs, this means that I was right! I dance about in happiness, pleased that my plan was working. My power is definitely tied to my own weight, so it looks like all I need is time and lots of food to eventually be more effective. So trying to get some curves isn't selfish, it's optimizing my power. Yes, that's what I'm going to keep telling myself. It has nothing to do with me wanting to one day look passably female, nothing at all...

I suppose I should call the guys now to see if we are de-building today or not. If we aren't, I'll have to come up with something to do today, I'm brimming with energy and lacking an outlet. Despite the sickening end to the fight yesterday, beating Lung has made me antsy to get out there and start making a difference. I just have to be more careful next time to be the one doing the ambushing.

Plus I'm pretty sick of studying, I'm well ahead of the online modules and unit tests. I _could_ wander around outside aimlessly, but patrolling is useless without territory I'm trying to hold. I'm not in this to look pretty and be famous, I want to hit targets that are worth it, to change things permanently. Not smile, wave, and pretend that things are safe now that I'm around, the criminals will just wait until I'm gone to do what they want.

I dial the guys impatiently on my burner phone, hoping that they have something constructive for me to do today.

"Yello!" Dom answers.

"Hey, it's me. So how's progress on getting set up for another attempt at the mini-sun thing?"

"Eh, not great. It will probably take me all day to put something together, sorry. Having to make a robotic arm from scratch ain't easy without Tinker powers, since if I use them it's gonna break."

"Ah, darn. I have nothing to do today and I'm already kinda bored. I want to go out and _do_ something, but I guess I'm just restless. I plan on hitting up the vet place that gave us the tranquilizers and paying them back at some point today, but that's it as far as plans go."

"Huh, well you could kill a few hours looking at the PHO, there's some great stuff about our fight with Lung from yesterday. Some video from a long ways off, speculation about who we are, lots of stuff. Barely anyone's connected the fight to us yet, but word's starting to get out that the 'Professionals' brought him down and turned him over to the Protectorate."

"Oh wow, that's fast."

"Yeah well it makes sense, lots of people live in territory controlled by the ABB, and Lung going down could really affect the power structure of the gangs and what areas they control. If he fails to get broken out before he's thrown in the birdcage, the ABB are fucked and are gonna lose quite a few chunks of land, if they survive at all."

Dread curls up in my stomach at this news. Could I have possibly made things worse? If Lung was the only thing holding back the E88 and the Merchants, then the two gangs fighting for control of the ABB's territory could be really hard on the regular citizens of the city. People caught in the crossfire won't care that 'oh well at least Lungs in prison.' No, all they will care about is the bullet that went through the wall of their house and into them, as gang members shoot up neighborhoods trying to get at each other.

I try to think optimistically, to convince myself that maybe it won't be so bad, but it's not working too well. I'm probably exaggerating things a bit, being too paranoid. I think the PRT and the ordinary cops would come down hard on any outright fighting in the streets. The city won't become a war zone just because some drug dealers try to get access to new territory to profit from, or some racists want to spread their reach out a bit more.

I hope.

"That sucks." Is all I can manage to say in reply as I try to process the implications.

"Yup. But hey, maybe we'll go hunting for Nazi's later, whittle their numbers down a bit. That should even things up between the gangs, and keep it from getting too bad."

"We can do that?" I ask incredulously.

"Course we can, we're heroes now, right? We just plan it out like the other capers, get at much intel on them as we can beforehand to pick out a few isolated targets we know we can fight and beat. Then voila! Nazi hoedown at ass-kicking-o-clock."

Huh, that's not a bad idea. That might be a good way to kill some time today, I can research the Empire capes and start figuring out who we could actually beat in a fight, and who we can't.

"Ok, if Mark's free later let him know I want to start planning a Nazi take-down. We won't bother with the normal thugs, they can always get more of them easily enough. Taking out a few capes here and there is hopefully all we need to keep them from taking advantage of our capture of Lung."

"Cool, I'll let him know. Oh, hey actually fun fact. We just got an email from Bakuda!"

"Uh, who?"

"Bakuda? You know, the ABB's newest cape, the bomb Tinker the Protectorate warned us about?"

"Oh shit, yeah I remember that now. Kinda had forgotten about that due to the whole, 'going psycho' thing. Wait, why would she email us? _How_ would she email us?"

"Technically it's not _us_ us who she contacted, she emailed Uber and Leet. I'm sure the ABB have the email address the same way the Empire, Merchant's, Faultline's Crew and even Coil got it. We gave it to them in case they ever wanted to hire us for scads of cash. That email has seen a _lot_ of action, we give it out all over the place to any cape we think might have money and might be willing to part with it."

"Ok, so that's the _how_ , what about the _why_?"

"I was getting to it! Ok, skimming through it, huh, well shit."

"What is it?" I ask as he pauses for too long.

"Looks like she wants our help tracking down both the Undersiders, and the Professionals. She's trying to make it sound like she's not with the ABB, and is an independent Tinker who want to get some reputation in this town, make some quick cash. We know that's a lie, but only because we get the info direct from the Protectorate. She claims she wants to steal some cash from the Undersiders, since she heard they robbed a casino recently and thus must be loaded. I'm guessing it's really a revenge ploy and she wants to seriously hurt them, to punish them for stealing from her new gang, and get some reputation back. She also wants to deal with us of course, for putting her new boss in jail. However she words it to sound like she has a private issue with the Professionals, and simply needs help finding them so she can try to get the issue resolved."

"No doubt she plans to resolve things with lots and lots of bombs." I reply sarcastically while rubbing my forehead.

"Yup. Well this is a dilemma. Uber and Leet would normally have eaten this offer up. She's offering lots of cash and a few custom grenades, all in exchange for finding these two groups in such a way that she can then engage them. She's offering a bit more too if we are willing to help her fight the Undersiders, a share of any loot they have. Pretty tempting amounts of cash here, if we weren't already financially set for life thanks to you."

"I honestly can't believe our luck. We got tipped off that a Tinker who specializes in fucking _bombs_ is gunning for us, because she tried to hire your alter-egos to track us down. That's unbelievable... Actually, could it be a trap do you think?"

"Doubt it, there's no obvious link between us. It's pretty lucky I gotta admit, but not beyond the realms of possibility. She's new in town, so turns to someone her group has hired before as she lacks her own contacts in the city to help her find us, it makes sense. Now we know to avoid her for a while, so it all worked out."

I get a clever idea and grin to myself, "Hey, maybe we can use this to set a trap for _her_! You two could accept the job, then when she shows up, we ambush her and take her down! It would be _so_ easy, and she'd never see it coming."

"Woah, _fuck_ no. That would pretty obviously let the cat out of the bag that Uber and Leet are closely connected to the Professionals. There are plenty of Thinkers that would be able to figure it out after that, not to mention the hit to our reputation as mercenaries this would give us. It's kinda useful being in contact with all the gangs loosely, and they'd drop us like a hot potato if word got out that we betrayed a client. I know we're trying to be heroes now, but we can't just trash everything we've been working on for the last few years, not if we want to keep using the identities like we planned."

Crap, he's really pissed off at this idea. Chagrined, I backpedal fast, "Ok, ok! I didn't realize it was such a bad idea, sorry! And you're right, we don't want to risk your villainous reputations. I'm still planning on us doing illegal 'Movement' jobs under your villain identities, so I don't want to make it too obvious that we are mostly the same group. That plan is officially deleted from my mind forever."

He takes a few moments to breathe deeply, I can hear it over the phone. "Cool. Fuck. Sorry I overreacted a bit there, but it was very much a bad idea. And villain or not, I'd like to think I have some shreds of honor, backstabbing someone like that is not cool, no matter how much she might want to fight us."

"It's ok. I'll try to think of a better plan later, I still think we might be able to do something with this advanced warning, but don't worry, I'll want both of you guys to give me input and help veto things. But I want us to at least _try_ to think of a good way to get her taken down safely. I don't like the idea of someone running around who's superpower is to make bombs, it seems very dangerous to leave her running free, depending on how she uses her power."

"Yeah, we should probably look up her history from before she was recruited, she had to have done something noteworthy enough for Lung to have bothered leaving town for her. That will let us know more about what she's willing to do with her bombs, and what she isn't. It's too bad though." He sighs.

"What's too bad?" I ask curious.

"Teaming up with her would have let us do a pretty awesome Bomberman theme. It would have been perfect! I haven't even done much in the way of explosives, so there would have been quite a few good things for me to build. But given that the people she wants to bomb is actually _us_ , along with the dumbest group of teenage villains ever to be formed, I think we'll have to avoid this particular team-up."

I snort, suppressing laughter, "Yeah, the Undersiders really are the most unlucky group ever. I swear we can't even turn around without finding that they are in need of rescue yet again. If this becomes a reoccurring theme, we will have to give them all some 'damsels in distress' costumes they can put on whenever they need help. Maybe with little tracking beacons in them so we can find them."

"Hahaha yeah! Bright pink dresses, Princess Peach style! They can pull them over their normal costumes when in trouble. Actually I think when we next visit the fabber, I'm printing some of those off. The next time we have to rescue those brats, they will be forced to wear the dresses or be left behind to face whatever horrible monster they poked with a stick."

"Heh, it will be hilarious to see the looks on their faces when you pull the dresses out. I'm a bit tired of hearing about how many people want to kill them for various reasons. They have a knack for getting into trouble, that's for sure."

"Yup, not like us. We'd never do anything silly like join some secret conspiracy group on the moon, or chase ourselves through the streets, pretending to be in two places at once. Or blow up a ship in broad daylight. Nope, nothing silly at all."

"Har, har." I roll my eyes, "Fine, good point. Stones and glass houses and all that. To be fair, they probably didn't realize how much trouble that one casino robbery was going to be for them, they aren't that dumb, just unlucky."

"Yup. Still gonna make them all pretty princess party dresses however."

I snort, "You do that, I'm gonna start reading the PHO, do some research. When I'm ready to scheme with you guys, should I head to the lab, or will you guys be home most of the day?"

"Hmm, depends on the time I think. I'm home right now being lazy and reading emails obviously, catching up on stuff, but I'll be at the lab in a few hours. I'll drag Mark there too once he's back with more supplies. So if you're finished in only a couple hours, then head to our home, but anytime after noon go to the lab. If you're really busy and don't get out until late, I think we'll abandon the lab and be back home round eight pm, probably hit a nearby pizza joint on our way back for supper."

"Ok, sounds like a plan. I guess I'll meet up with you guys at some point."

"Cool, adiós amigo!"

"Bye, have fun explaining the pink dress plan to Mark!" I tease before I hang up.

Looks like I have a few new focuses to devote myself to. Taking out a few Empire capes to keep the gangs balanced, and dealing with Bakuda before she blows anyone up. Good, I'm not bored anymore.


End file.
